Responding to the appointment of Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor of the Exchequer, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said:
“The new Chancellor has recently and repeatedly declared how the severe nursing workforce crisis is putting patients at risk.
“This, exacerbated further by the cost-of-living crisis and a decade of real-terms pay cuts, has left nursing at breaking point. Too many are choosing to leave the profession for better-paid jobs elsewhere.
“The Chancellor must act fast to stem the exodus. A simple way to recruit and retain more nursing staff is to pay them fairly.”
Ends
Notes to editors
Jeremy Hunt comments:
“We now face the greatest workforce crisis in history in the NHS.” 25 July 2022
“Persistent understaffing in the NHS poses a serious risk to staff and patient safety, a situation compounded by the absence of a long term plan by the government to tackle it.” 25 July 2022
"We continually fail to train as many doctors, nurses, midwives as we should." 19 May 2022
