Press Releases
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23/12/2024
Press Release
‘Learning disability nurse deserts’ developing across England, as RCN calls for government to rescue specialty
RCN Chief Nursing Officer, Lynn Woolsey, said: “Learning disability nursing is an incredibly rewarding career, supporting some of the most vulnerable to live happier and healthier lives. But the specialty has suffered years of neglect and underinvestment, causing recruitment to collapse and decimating workforce numbers."
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22/12/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to the Health Secretary’s comments on corridor care
Executive Director of RCN England Patricia Marquis said “The Heath Secretary is right to recognise the crisis that leaves patients treated in corridors. Being honest about it is the first important step. Nursing staff are genuinely fearful of what’s ahead this winter."
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19/12/2024
Press Release
Growing number of flu cases threatens to overwhelm an NHS and workforce already in crisis, Royal College of Nursing responds to latest winter sit-rep data from NHS England
Executive Director of RCN England Patricia Marquis said: “As people prepare for the festivities, nursing staff are battling to hold the service together and are deeply concerned about what the coming weeks will deliver."
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16/12/2024
Press Release
32,000 nursing students could quit by 2029, as Royal College of Nursing warns losses could fill every NHS vacancy in England
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger said: "The students of today are the nurses of the future. But for tens of thousands, the unbearable weight of graduate debt, lack of support with living costs and prospect of low pay is set to push them out of the profession before they qualify. This is a tragedy for them and patients."
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16/12/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to the Royal College of Emergency Medicine's new position statement on corridor care
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger said: “Care delivered in corridors and other non-clinical spaces is unsafe, undignified and unacceptable. It violates the privacy of patients and leaves staff without access to essential, life-saving equipment. There are no circumstances under which it constitutes good, safe care."
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13/12/2024
Press Release
Urgent need to increase student funding, says Royal College of Nursing Wales following UCAS admission figures
UCAS figures published today show that universities in Wales have been unable to fill the Welsh government commissioned places on nursing courses and attract the number of nursing students needed.
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12/12/2024
Press Release
Nurse universities admission figures show government NHS reforms under ‘direct threat’, says Royal College of Nursing
Executive Director of RCN England, Patricia Marquis, said: “Today’s figures should ring alarm bells in government. As demand for services rises, and targets say we need hundreds of thousands of new nurses, ministers are struggling to recruit even an additional one hundred. Nurse education is not just totally broken, but a direct threat to NHS reforms."
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12/12/2024
Press Release
Nurse shortage leaves NHS ‘woefully unprepared’ for flu crisis flooding wards, says Royal College of Nursing
RCN Executive Director for England Patricia Marquis, said: “The NHS is woefully underprepared for the crisis flooding into its wards this winter. A nursing workforce wracked by widespread vacancies will be doing its best to keep people safe, but the reality is that there are too many patients and too few beds."
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10/12/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to publication of UK government’s NHS Pay Review Body evidence
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger said: “The government has today told nursing staff they are worth as little as £2 extra a day, less than the price of a coffee. Nursing is in crisis – there are fewer joining and too many experienced professionals leaving. This is deeply offensive to nursing staff, detrimental to their patients and contradictory to hopes of rebuilding the NHS."
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10/12/2024
Press Release
RCN Wales Responds to Welsh Government Budget Announcement
"The government needs to be careful to address the systemic issues and not just focus on the waiting lists,” explains Helen Whyley, Executive Director RCN Wales.
Page last updated - 23/09/2024
