A&E pressures critical, says RCN

Published: 24 April 2013

Hardworking staff at over-stretched emergency departments across the country are being forced to take desperate measures to cope with the demands of a system which is running at full capacity, the Royal College of Nursing revealed today.

As the latest report of the RCN’s Frontline First campaign revealed six warning signs, which if ignored could be disastrous for patient care, nurses demonstrated the stark reality on the frontline.

In one of many examples, Patricia Marquis, RCN Regional Director for the South East, revealed that in Oxford “queue nurses” were required to treat patients as they waited in corridors to be admitted.

The situation in emergency departments across the UK has been worsening in recent weeks because of winter pressures and the recently launched NHS 111 service sending more patients to A&E unnecessarily. However, the Frontline First report demonstrates that these scenes are the result of a number of ongoing concerns, including poor workforce planning and a lack of investment in community services.

Dr Peter Carter, RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary, said: “We need to see an immediate end to the short-term, slash and burn cuts to nursing staff levels and the failure to plan for the long term, which are damaging patient care and bringing the health service to its knees.”

Call to action

The RCN has urged the Government to take immediate action to tackle warning signs across the health service, including staff cuts, an ageing workforce, and soaring patient demand. The College has identified that there are now 68,880 posts in the UK which are earmarked to go before April 2015, with 24,836 already axed. This includes a decrease of 4,800 registered nurses and 4,042 health care assistants.

“Our latest Frontline First report paints a very worrying picture for the future of the health service, and the Government cannot afford to ignore these warning signs,” Dr Carter added.

However, the increasing number of axed frontline staff is just one of many warning signs flashing across the health service. The report also found that the combination of nursing student places being cut and an ageing workforce could lead to a massive nursing shortfall in the future if the Government does not take action now.

The RCN has made eight "calls for action" needed to avoid a nursing crisis in the future, including boards regularly monitoring up-to-date information on their workforce, such as staffing levels and ratios of registered to unregistered staff. The RCN is also calling for greater investment in community and specialist nurses, who manage long-term conditions and reduce consultant appointments and hospital visits.