Nurse numbers fall in London surgeries

Published: 26 June 2012

RCN London officers are reporting a marked rise in GP practices dispensing with nursing staff because ‘they can no longer afford them’.

GP practices in London are slimming down the numbers of nurses employed at their surgeries. A prime reason has been the reduction for many surgeries in the Personal Medical Services budget. One practice in Greenwich employ an integrated team of nursing staff providing district nurse and health visitor services on behalf of the local PCT. They have now handed this back without adequate consultation with staff. Another in Elephant and Castle has lost £274,000 a year from their PMS contract and now want to cut the number of WTE practice nurses from 3.48 to 2.48 – a loss of eight clinical sessions.

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