John Carvel, social affairs editor
Tuesday April 29, 2003
Patients are suffering because of a critical shortage of nurses, despite record public spending on the NHS, the leader of Britain's biggest nursing union warned yesterday.
Beverly Malone, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said 80% of hospital wards did not have enough nurses to cover for time off, sickness and maternity leave.
Half did not have the right mix of nursing skills to meet patients' needs, and one in three had not given nurses any study time in the past year, despite the legal requirement on nurses to keep their skills up to date.
Ministers were right to say there were more registered nurses in Britain than ever before, but they were wrong to think this solved the problem.
"The nursing shortage is not sorted - it is nowhere near sorted. Ask any patient. Ask any nurse," Ms Malone told the college's annual conference in Harrogate. "We have to keep on blowing the whistle about the shortages and risks to patient care."
The supply of nurses was increasing, thanks largely to an influx from abroad, but it was failing to keep pace with the increase in demand for nurses to expand their role in the NHS. A snapshot survey of staffing in medical and surgical wards in 46 NHS trusts showed that the number of nurses available to work was 20% below the agreed staffing level and 37% below the number RCN officials thought sufficient.
An analysis of the nursing labour market by James Buchan, professor of health at Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh, showed that extra staff were not reaching some specialisms. Between 1999 and 2001 there was a 5% reduction in the number of district nurses and a 1% increase in midwives, compared with an 11% increase in registered nurses.
The rise varied from 3% in Northern Ireland, where a severe shortage of theatre nurses was hindering efforts to cut the waiting list, to 12% in England.
"Wards are running at full capacity. Bed occupancy is 98%," Ms Malone said. "That's a great statistic if you're running a production line. But it is no way to give time and care to people who are in pain, afraid, need specialised attention or who need you to break bad news to them with sensitivity."
The research showed that the number of nurses registered in Britain would not have increased in the past four years without the rapid growth in the number recruited internationally. "Without that aggressive international recruitment we would be running hard just to stand still," Ms Malone said.
There was a global market for nurses and the influx from abroad could easily become an exodus. And in the next five years 50,000 nurses were due to retire. "Let's be clear; we are in a race against time," she said.
RCN members recently voted overwhelmingly in favour of accepting the government's Agenda for Change programme for regrading nurses, including a 15.8% average pay increase over three years. Ms Malone said the programme had the potential to tackle recruitment and retention problems, but it would take three years to implement, and needed proper government funding.
Figures from the nursing and midwifery council show that in the year to the end of March 2003 there were 18,048 new registrations of nurses from Britain, 804 from elsewhere in EU and 12,825 from outside Europe.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "The number of nurses working in the NHS is increasing and is at an all-time high, with 48,000 extra nurses since 1997.
"We are on track but more work needs to be done if we are to reach the target of 80,000 more nurses by 2008 compared to 1997."
TODAY there is a big need for travel nurses, whether it is across town, or across the nation. Due to this major matter these particular RNs are allowed to in-take $10k per month, plus benefits that start immediately. For more information please goto: http://www.readyrefer.com/2870
Tuesday April 29, 2003
Patients are suffering because of a critical shortage of nurses, despite record public spending on the NHS, the leader of Britain's biggest nursing union warned yesterday.
Beverly Malone, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said 80% of hospital wards did not have enough nurses to cover for time off, sickness and maternity leave.
Half did not have the right mix of nursing skills to meet patients' needs, and one in three had not given nurses any study time in the past year, despite the legal requirement on nurses to keep their skills up to date.
Ministers were right to say there were more registered nurses in Britain than ever before, but they were wrong to think this solved the problem.
"The nursing shortage is not sorted - it is nowhere near sorted. Ask any patient. Ask any nurse," Ms Malone told the college's annual conference in Harrogate. "We have to keep on blowing the whistle about the shortages and risks to patient care."
The supply of nurses was increasing, thanks largely to an influx from abroad, but it was failing to keep pace with the increase in demand for nurses to expand their role in the NHS. A snapshot survey of staffing in medical and surgical wards in 46 NHS trusts showed that the number of nurses available to work was 20% below the agreed staffing level and 37% below the number RCN officials thought sufficient.
An analysis of the nursing labour market by James Buchan, professor of health at Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh, showed that extra staff were not reaching some specialisms. Between 1999 and 2001 there was a 5% reduction in the number of district nurses and a 1% increase in midwives, compared with an 11% increase in registered nurses.
The rise varied from 3% in Northern Ireland, where a severe shortage of theatre nurses was hindering efforts to cut the waiting list, to 12% in England.
"Wards are running at full capacity. Bed occupancy is 98%," Ms Malone said. "That's a great statistic if you're running a production line. But it is no way to give time and care to people who are in pain, afraid, need specialised attention or who need you to break bad news to them with sensitivity."
The research showed that the number of nurses registered in Britain would not have increased in the past four years without the rapid growth in the number recruited internationally. "Without that aggressive international recruitment we would be running hard just to stand still," Ms Malone said.
There was a global market for nurses and the influx from abroad could easily become an exodus. And in the next five years 50,000 nurses were due to retire. "Let's be clear; we are in a race against time," she said.
RCN members recently voted overwhelmingly in favour of accepting the government's Agenda for Change programme for regrading nurses, including a 15.8% average pay increase over three years. Ms Malone said the programme had the potential to tackle recruitment and retention problems, but it would take three years to implement, and needed proper government funding.
Figures from the nursing and midwifery council show that in the year to the end of March 2003 there were 18,048 new registrations of nurses from Britain, 804 from elsewhere in EU and 12,825 from outside Europe.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "The number of nurses working in the NHS is increasing and is at an all-time high, with 48,000 extra nurses since 1997.
"We are on track but more work needs to be done if we are to reach the target of 80,000 more nurses by 2008 compared to 1997."
TODAY there is a big need for travel nurses, whether it is across town, or across the nation. Due to this major matter these particular RNs are allowed to in-take $10k per month, plus benefits that start immediately. For more information please goto: http://www.readyrefer.com/2870
