Government needs to act now to prevent feast or famine NHS job market, says RCN
Published: 28 August 2007
Responding to the 'Vacancies in the NHS England' figures released today by the Information Centre for Health and Social Care, General Secretary of the RCN, Dr Peter Carter said:
“This is not a 'good news' story for nurses. Yes, vacancy rates appear to have reached their lowest levels for years, but we fear that has only been achieved by widespread freezing and deleting of posts by NHS Trusts desperate to balance the books.
“Thousands of newly-qualified nurses - costing taxpayers millions of pounds to train - cannot find jobs this year yet at the same time the workload of nurses on the wards and in the community remains high.
“It's time for the Government to put in place a long-term workforce strategy that prevents the feast or famine characteristic of the NHS job market in recent years.”
Notes to editors
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