Press Releases
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19/04/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to prime minister's 'sicknote culture' speech
Professor Pat Cullen, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive said: “Nursing staff are the largest single workforce in health and care, but they themselves are suffering from increasingly poor long-term health. The prime minister’s overtures about ‘sicknote culture’ will be deeply offensive to a profession hit hard by long COVID and a spiralling mental health crisis. Issues of population health are not ones that a government can simply instruct away."
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17/04/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to NHS Charities Together survey findings
Responding to the NHS Charities Together finding that more than three in four NHS workers have experienced mental health issues, RCN Head of Nursing Practice and Professional Lead for Mental Health Stephen Jones said: “These findings highlight just how demoralised and burnt out NHS workers really are. Nursing staff go to work to care for their patients but are being emotionally and physically pushed to the edge."
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17/04/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to Liberal Democrat research on delayed discharges from hospital
Patricia Marquis, Executive Director of RCN England, said “Nobody should stay in hospital longer than they need to, but every day thousands remain on wards simply because the NHS can’t discharge them to where they can receive more appropriate care. This adds pressure across hospitals leaving patients waiting hours to be admitted and others being treated in corridors, doorways, and store cupboards."
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17/04/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to Supreme Court ruling that UK trade union law breaches the ECHR
RCN Director of Legal and Member Relations, Joanne Galbraith-Marten, said: “Today’s ruling is welcome news for workers as the Supreme Court recognised that our domestic legislation is not compatible with article 11 of the ECHR given the lack of protection for detriment short of dismissal in respect of those taking part in organising industrial action."
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16/04/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to the retirement of England’s Chief Nursing Officer
Professor Pat Cullen, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, said: "Ruth has been the strongest ambassador for nursing over five very difficult years for our profession. We have worked extremely closely in recent years and her personal support and wise counsel has been invaluable."
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16/04/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing welcomes extension of NHS Practitioner Health scheme
Patricia Marquis, Executive Director of RCN England, said: "We are relieved to see the funding to NHS Practitioner Health extended for a further 12 months. Questions remain, however, as to how the decision to close the scheme to new registrants was made."
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11/04/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to the latest NHS England waiting list data
Patricia Marquis, Executive Director of RCN England, said: “More than a year since the pledge was made to cut waiting lists, millions of patients are still suffering in pain and distress. Whichever way you count the numbers, the prime minister’s promise is colliding with the reality of an understaffed and under-resourced NHS. This is far from ‘mission accomplished."
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11/04/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to University of Bath report on NHS staff retention
Patricia Marquis, Executive Director of RCN England said: “This report tells the story of an NHS workforce at the end of its tether. Devastating nursing shortages are leaving staff burnt out and demoralised, unable to provide the level of care they want to. When nurses are the least likely of all NHS staff to recommend a career in the health service, ministers should sit up and listen."
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08/04/2024
Press Release
New pay structure can deliver ‘fresh start’ for nursing, RCN tells government
Professor Pat Cullen, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive said: “Nursing is not a calling. Or a vocation. Or ‘women’s work’. We are a profession; we are experts; we are leaders. There is an art and a science to what we do."
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08/04/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to Unison survey showing widespread sexual harassment of NHS staff
RCN Chief Nurse Professor Nicola Ranger said: “These figures paint an incredibly disturbing picture. Nursing staff should be able to come to work and expect the NHS to be a safe place - and not face the risk of assault, harassment, or abuse."
Page last updated - 22/03/2024
