Commenting on the latest report from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health on the rise in child A+E attendances, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger, said:

“This reads as a devastating indictment of our healthcare system.

“Overworked and understaffed nursing teams in emergency departments, including paediatric ones, are desperate to provide the best care and struggling to deal with the numbers of child patients arriving at their door. Often because of failings elsewhere, patients are being cared for in inappropriate and undignified areas of hospitals and it must stop.

“The systemic failure can in part be put down to a lack of long-term investment in the nursing workforce and must be addressed by the government in the upcoming Workforce Plan.

“Getting it right on community care is just as vital as in the hospital. School nurses and health visitors are critical to keeping children healthy and out of hospitals – but their numbers have been cut by a third since 2009. Investment in children and young people’s nursing roles is money well spent, helping to prevent illness and also reduce the rising burden on emergency departments.”

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