Specialist nurses 'targeted' to cut NHS costs

Published: 29 April 2008

An RCN survey of specialist and experienced nurses has found that vacancy freezes and fears of redundancy and downgrading are continuing to plague the NHS as it heads for a £1.8bn surplus.

The survey of almost 330 of the UK’s specialist and experienced nurses found a third said their organisation had a vacancy freeze in place and one in four have been at risk of redundancy in their current role, with 20 percent still at risk.

Commenting on the results of the survey published today Dr Peter Carter, RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary, said: “It beggars belief that despite the NHS being on track to register a £1.8 billion surplus, specialist nurses are continuing to be targeted in a bid to cut costs".

“Specialist nurses are our gold plated resources who make a huge difference to the lives of their patients. The loss of just one of these highly trained experts will have a disproportionate impact on patients".

Lord Darzi, the health minister appointed to lead a review of the NHS, gave ‘the need for more specialised care’ as one of the reasons for change in the NHS. Despite this, today's survey shows 27 percent of experienced and specialist nurses say cuts are being made right now.

The survey also highlighted the impact on the specialist nurses themselves. Almost half the nurses surveyed have worked outside their specialist area to cover staff shortages, and only 51 percent felt their work was valued by their organisation. One nurse said that in being removed from her normal work place to cover in another area she lost skills that she had acquired, and had “no job satisfaction" in her current work.

Dr Carter commented that specialist nurses are "the very nurses who will be at the centre of the government’s plans to deliver care closer to home and yet these same nurses are being treated as soft targets". He argued that NHS employers should be looking at ways to recruit more specialist nurses and keep those already working in the profession. Saying: "targeting them for redundancy and under utilising their skills is sure to send them in the opposite direction.”