Press Releases
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25/03/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to an announcement from the Department of Health and Social Care about one-off payments for more healthcare workers
RCN Director for England Patricia Marquis said: “After a year of campaigning, this progress is a huge leap forward. They deliver NHS care and deserve the same treatment."
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22/03/2024
Press Release
Half of England’s nursing staff could quit as new analysis reveals impact of decade-long attack on nursing pay
Professor Pat Cullen, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, said: “This new analysis exposes the scale of the government’s sustained attack on nursing. Over a decade of below inflation pay offers, followed last year by the lowest award in the entire public sector, have caused hardship and forced thousands to consider quitting altogether."
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22/03/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to the National Audit Office report on NHS England’s modelling for the Long Term Workforce Plan
RCN Director for England Patricia Marquis said: “This NAO report may not be damning, but this credible intervention asks the government and NHS to ‘revisit’ their ill-founded optimism. Since the workforce plan was published less than a year ago, student nurse numbers have already dropped twice – taking England’s NHS further from safe staffing levels."
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20/03/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to Public Accounts Committee report ‘Reforming adult social care in England’
RCN Transformational Lead for the Independent Health and Social Care Sector Claire Sutton said: “Social care is gripped by devastating workforce shortages whilst staff working in the sector take home up to a third less pay than their colleagues in the NHS. As demand for social care services continues to increase, the government has serious questions to answer as to why there is no social care workforce strategy to speak of."
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19/03/2024
Press Release
NHS budget must take account of our ageing population and increasing demand, says Royal College of Nursing
RCN Director for England Patricia Marquis said: “The NHS budget must take account of our ageing population and increasing demand – failing to do so means stealth cuts for the NHS which could have profound consequences for patient care."
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18/03/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to Health Service Journal report on leaked plans to attract workers into NHS technology roles
Responding to a Health Service Journal report on leaked plans around using recruitment and retention premia to attract workers into NHS technology roles, RCN Director of Legal Services & Member Relations Joanne Galbraith-Marten said: “In these plans, the NHS shows it’s prepared to do things differently to attract talent to the NHS. When professions struggle to recruit, it sees salary enhancements as a viable option to solve a workforce issue - in this case for roles that are predominantly filled by men."
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18/03/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to The King's Fund's analysis - 'Illustrating the relationship between poverty and NHS services'
RCN Deputy Chief Nurse, Dr Nichola Ashby, said: “Every day, nursing staff see the impact poverty has on people’s health. But despite working in every possible setting – from people’s homes to social care and emergency departments – they are often powerless to stop the root causes of poverty that lead to poor health."
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18/03/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to Workforce Race Equality Standard and Workforce Disability Equality Standard reports
Professor Pat Cullen, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, said: “Discrimination in the NHS is systemic - and it’s clear the health service still has a long way to go in overcoming the prejudices that both patients and staff face. It’s promising to see some progress – including an increase in the number of Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff at senior manager level – but it is not nearly fast enough, and the NHS can ill afford to waste more time moving at this glacial pace."
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14/03/2024
Press Release
Ministers should listen to NHS staff, not create false divisions, says RCN
Professor Pat Cullen, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, said: “Nursing staff agree with NHS leaders that Equality, Diversity and Inclusion is vital to improving both the culture of the NHS and patient care. Ministers on a culture war crusade have no business lecturing NHS staff on what their services need."
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14/03/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to NHS performance figures
Responding to the latest NHS performance figures, RCN Director for England Patricia Marquis said: “Horrendous waits are becoming normalised in a system that cannot cope with demand. Whilst the NHS continues to battle chronic nursing workforce shortages, the number of those waiting the longest has grown and waiting times for urgent cancer referrals are still way below target. Having the right amount of staff is intrinsically linked to providing quick, safe and effective care."
Page last updated - 21/02/2025
