RCN: Mid-Staffs driven by finance not patient care
Published: 24 March 2009
Responding to the Healthcare Commission's investigation into emergency care at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, Dr. Peter Carter, Chief Executive & General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said:
"The RCN said it time and time again; when Trusts cut staff, fail to provide leadership and put money-saving measures in front of quality patient care, this is what happens. Nurses want to give their patients top quality care, but when you have so few staff that you're relying on A&E receptionists to provide clinical care, there are clearly not enough nurses to provide good care.
"Whilst this report is shocking, tragically it's nothing new. The RCN has been saying for years that high quality care requires sufficient nurses to deliver it. Mid-Staffs were 120 nurses short of the number needed to provide a high standard of care because the Trust board were trying to save £10 million. When you overwork and overburden staff in any profession, the quality of their work suffers. It is no different with nurses.
"Poor nursing practice is unacceptable, but just as in Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells, there is almost always a wider reason, whether it's a working culture where patient safety is not the top priority or a finance driven agenda of staff cuts.
"It is right that the Chair and Chief Executive have resigned, even though some of the problems pre-date their appointment, but that won't make these problems go away. All Trusts need to put patient safety and patient care at the top of their agenda and the government need to support them in doing so. It is becoming more and more obvious as report after report comes out, if you want high quality care; you need enough fully trained nurses to provide that care.
"There is also something very wrong when Trusts are achieving foundation status by putting the health of their budgets over the care of their patients as detailed in the accounts of Trust board meetings.
"We know that the Trust has made some significant progress since the Healthcare Commission first investigated and we want to work closely with the Trust to sustain this improvement and ensure nursing staff at all levels are supported and empowered to deliver the quality of care that patients expect and deserve."
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Notes to 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, healthcare assistants 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.