Responding to the publication of the new NHS staff standards, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger, said: 

"These new standards must deliver real accountability for employers in England who consistently fail to protect their own employees. Nursing staff have repeatedly spoken out about the disgraceful levels of racism, sexual violence, and physical abuse they have been subjected to at work. It cannot go on.

“Zero-tolerance policies on paper have done little to improve the day-to-day experience of nursing staff. The new standards must refocus minds and employers must waste no time in developing concrete action plans in partnership with the RCN and other trade unions to turn things around. We now need to know what metrics will be used to score Trusts via the NHS Oversight Framework, and for local union representatives – who understand the staff experience better than anyone – to be given sufficient time to support this work.

“For these measures to deliver real change for staff, robust enforcement mechanisms need to be in place for those who fail to deliver against the new standards. For far too long, staff have endured sometimes inhumane treatment at work while leaders remain unaware or look the other way. The impact on nursing staff has been profound, and if these levels of abuse don’t change, they will continue to walk away from our NHS and that would be a tragedy.”

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