Responding to the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee report on long-term funding of adult social care, RCN Director for England, Patricia Marquis, said:
“Fixing social care is key to tackling the NHS backlog. Without investment, hospital patients cannot be discharged into the community, beds are full, and A&Es are backed up with ambulances waiting outside.
“Social care must become a more attractive place to work, with salaries that at the very least match the NHS. We welcome MPs’ support for our members calling for parity.
“But for any reforms to truly succeed, the workforce crises across the health and care sector must be addressed in parallel. Ministers must come up with ways to boost the domestic recruitment of nursing staff and reduce our disproportionate reliance on valued colleagues from overseas. A simple way to recruit and retain staff is to pay them fairly.
“It is ministers’ failure to respond to repeated warnings about staff shortages, putting patient safety at risk, which has left nursing with no choice but to consider industrial strike action.”
