Press Releases
-
13/02/2025
Press Release
RCN Wales Responds to Latest UCAS Nursing Applicant Figures
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Wales welcomes the latest figures released by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) for the 2025 nursing application and acceptance cycle.
-
10/02/2025
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to report on barriers to healthcare degree apprenticeships
RCN Executive Director for England, Patricia Marquis, said: "Health leaders have identified apprenticeships as a means of boosting recruitment into nursing, including for those who cannot afford to take on debt and go to university. However, the findings of this report show the route is failing to help close the gap left by a broken tuition fee model, with trusts lacking the funding to keep up with costs, while limited clinical placements leave NHS England unable to meet its own targets."
-
07/02/2025
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to public health grant allocations for 25/26
RCN Executive Director for England Patricia Marquis said: “The increase in the public health grant is a step in the right direction for the government’s ambitions to shift towards prevention but short-term funding will not cover for years of cuts, nor help rescue the public health nursing workforce, which has been decimated over the last decade."
-
06/02/2025
Press Release
No end in sight to the pressures on the wards, warns Royal College of Nursing
RCN Executive Director for England Patricia Marquis said: "Every day patients are being admitted only to be treated in corridors in unsafe and undignified conditions. This year-round crisis cannot simply be passed over as winter pressures."
-
05/02/2025
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to Dawn Butler MP introducing Bill to legally protect the title ‘nurse’
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger, said: “Nursing is a safety critical profession, and the title ‘nurse’ needs to be protected. Patients deserve to know that when they are being treated by a registered nurse, that they can trust the knowledge, professionalism, and clinical expertise that brings."
-
03/02/2025
Press Release
Government should solve corridor care crisis within a year if it acts now, public says
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Professor Nicola Ranger, said: “The public and nursing staff can see a tragedy for patients unfolding before their eyes. They know care standards are unacceptable and they want government to act decisively."
-
30/01/2025
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to the UK Government's NHS Mandate and NHS England's 2025/26 priorities and operational planning guidance
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger, said: “The health secretary says he wants to get ‘back to basics’, but the basic truth is you cannot cut waiting times and transform care without tackling the crisis in nursing."
-
30/01/2025
Press Release
Pressure on nursing staff unrelenting as norovirus surges in NHS, says RCN
RCN Executive Director for England Patricia Marquis, said: “From one of the busiest summers ever, to now surging norovirus, the pressure on nursing staff is unrelenting. They are doing their best to keep people safe, but widespread vacancies and not enough beds mean they face an impossible job. Across England, they continue to report patients being crammed into corridors – ministers need to step up and act."
-
29/01/2025
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing "very concerned" about Cardiff University’s proposal to close its School of Nursing
Helen Whyley, RCN Wales Executive Director, responds to Cardiff University’s proposal to close its nursing school.
-
28/01/2025
Press Release
RCN demands urgent action and transparency on corridor care in Wales
The RCN has issued a strong call to action to the Welsh government, urging them to take decisive steps to eradicate corridor care
Page last updated - 21/02/2025
