RCN warns of a community nurse shortage ‘timebomb’
Published: 26 March 2009
The Royal College of Nursing has warned the Government that it must invest in community nursing to make it an attractive career option, as RCN research shows that many staff in this sector are due to retire in the next few years.
The comments were made in response to the publication of statistics from the NHS Information Centre, which show an all-time high in NHS staffing but a further decline in the numbers of practice nurses.
RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary, Dr. Peter Carter said:
"We welcome the fact that there are more staff working in the NHS, but we know that 200,000 nurses are due to retire in the next decade. The Government has been urging the health service to move care closer to home, yet it is community nurses that we're going to be losing to retirement over the next few years. All of this points to an NHS staff shortage timebomb".
RCN research shows that one in three community nurses are over 50 and one in five practice nurses are over 55 years old.