Staff shortages are putting patients at risk
Published: 31 March 2009
Commenting on today's Nursing Standard survey of specialist nurses, Dr. Peter Carter, Chief Executive & General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said:
"The RCN has been saying for years that patient care requires enough nurses to deliver it. It's very simple - when hospitals don't recruit enough nurses, patients are put at risk.
Every Trust Chief Executive should be checking whether or not they have enough nurses to provide patients the kind of care that they expect and deserve. The government needs to spell it out to Trusts - saving lives is the health service's priority, not saving money.
When eight out of ten highly-skilled specialist nurses say that their department is understaffed, every Trust boss needs to sit up, listen to these concerns and take appropriate action. We're talking about cancer nurses, diabetes nurses, children's nurses. These are the nurses with a lot of experience who are indispensable to the health service and highly valued by patients. However, when Trusts concentrate on hitting financial targets instead of delivering quality patient care, these are the nurses who are often first to go.
The RCN wants to work closely with government and Trusts locally to address these staff shortages that are having an everyday effect on the care that patients receive."