RCN calls for an end to Government’s yo-yo policies on NHS staffing
Published: 24 August 2007
Responding to a leaked draft of the NHS pay and workforce strategy for 2008-11, Janet Davies, RCN Executive Director for Service Delivery, said:
"The RCN wants to examine this secret government document as a matter of urgency but, if reports about its content are accurate, then it echoes our much repeated, but sadly ignored, warnings about the scale of the recruitment and retention crisis in nursing.
"It also demonstrates a yo-yo attitude to workforce planning and a complete absence of joined up thinking from the government. Just a few weeks ago, the Secretary of State for Health told MPs that the NHS had employed too many nurses but now her department have evidence predicting a shortage of 14,000 nurses within the next four years. And all this at a time when nurses are being made redundant, newly qualified nurses can’t find work and thousands of NHS posts are being lost up and down the country.
"In addition, the report confirms our worst fears that the government intends to use the pay, terms and working conditions of nurses as the means by which they dig themselves out of a hole of their own making.
“Quite simply, if the reality of this document matches the leaks, then this is a bad news day for patients and for nurses".
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Notes for Editors
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Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is the voice of nursing across the UK and is the largest professional union of nursing staff in the world. The RCN promotes the interest of nurses and patients on a wide range of issues and helps shape healthcare policy by working closely with the UK Government and other national and international institutions, trade unions, professional bodies and voluntary organisations.