Responding to the Department of Health’s consultation on the development of the 10 Year Workforce Plan, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger said:

“Any new plan for the workforce in England must not shy away from difficult choices and deliver for nursing and for patients.

“Nursing has been transformed over the last 20 years and the profession now leads patient care in a whole range of settings. Despite this, we have an understaffed and undervalued workforce unable to provide the care patients deserve.

“For government to succeed in its ambition for the NHS it must deliver an equally ambitious plan for the workforce. Pivotal to the success of any plan is to invest in and grow the number of nursing staff working in the community. Crucially, this must be fully funded and based on the needs of patients and include safe levels of staffing in all care settings.

“As the largest workforce in the NHS, nursing stands ready to be part of the solution, but our voice must be heard for the plan to succeed.”

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