NHS Scotland facing unprecedented pressures, warns RCN
Published: 23 April 2013
NHS Scotland is facing a perfect storm of all-year-round pressures, ward closures, scandals about waiting times and ongoing cuts to nursing staff. According to an RCN Scotland survey,1 nine out of 10 (89%) nurses working in NHS hospitals are experiencing pressures on beds all year round and eight out of 10 (80%) said there are problems all year round where they work with patient movement between wards, departments or units. And compared to this time last year, 63% of nurses say that individual patients are now more severely ill. All this is putting untold pressures on the service.
Commenting on these pressures on the day the RCN published its latest Frontline First report, RCN Scotland Director Theresa Fyffe said: “The warning signs are there. We have soaring patient demand which is putting pressure on staff all year round and people coming into hospital are more severely ill and often have more than one illness or long term condition. This is only going to increase in the coming years given our ageing population. While 35% of adults under 65 in Scotland now live with one or more long-term condition, this figure almost doubles (66%) for all those aged over 65.2 We can therefore expect pressures to rise even further in the future, as our population gets older.
“We also know that the ongoing cuts to the nursing workforce in some health boards are piling the pressure on those working on our wards. Some NHS boards are responding to these pressures by reversing the trend of cutting nurses and health care assistants from the workforce. We obviously welcome this, but the picture is not uniform across Scotland, with some areas continuing to cut their workforce. This has to stop if patients are to continue to have confidence in our hospitals.”
The RCN has been involved for some time in the development of planning tools for nursing that can be used to ensure there are the right number of nurses and health care assistants in the right place at the right time in all hospital settings and it is now mandatory for all health boards to use these workforce and workload planning tools.
Theresa continued: “We have supported the use of these tools in principle, but we now need to make sure they are used regularly and in every ward and team. Use of the tools alone will not help us get the workforce right, now or into the future.
“The reality is that those working on the frontline are trying to do their best, but there are just not enough staff, enough beds or enough resources within the system to deal with the increase in patients and the increasing severity of their illnesses. We therefore urge all health boards to continue to work with us stop the cuts to staffing levels right across Scotland and for the Scottish Government to plan for the long term and face up to the long-term pressures on our NHS, for the people who work in it and the patients who rely on it.”
ENDS
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Notes to editors
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is the world’s largest professional organisation and trade union for nursing staff, with members in the NHS, independent and voluntary sectors. RCN Scotland promotes patient and nursing interests by campaigning on issues that affect our members, shaping national health policies, representing members on practice and employment issues and providing members with learning and development opportunities. With around 39,000 members in Scotland, we are the voice of nursing.
1. RCN Scotland survey of over 950 members working in NHS hospitals, conducted in February/March 2013.
2. Scottish Government (2011) The Scottish Health Survey – Topic report: older people. Available at www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/11/24083430/49