Responding to the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing report ‘Understanding Career Regression in Nursing’ RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger, said:

“This report is a damning indictment of the way nursing is so chronically undervalued. Rather than being recognised as the expert clinicians they are, highly-skilled and experienced nurses are routinely pushed into lower paid, less senior roles. It’s an absolute scandal that seeking a better work-life balance or simply moving employers can see decades of hard work and dedication go up in smoke.

“This powerful testimony reminds us of the challenges facing nursing as a female dominated graduate profession. We are among the lowest paid, forced to contend with a pay structure that holds us to the bottom, leaving many trapped at the same band their entire careers. To make matters worse, many of those who do progress into senior roles are inevitably forced back down the career ladder. No other profession in health and care would be expected to accept such a disgraceful situation.

“Government and employers need to recognise nursing as the expert, safety-critical profession it is today. We’re not just crucial to transforming care but also breathing life into a sluggish economy. Truly harnessing the capabilities of nursing means first recruiting and retaining the very best through fundamental pay reform that open up paths to progression.”

Ends

Notes to editors

QICN report - The Trap Door: Understanding Career Regression in Nursing