The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) warned yesterday that the NHS is ‘sleepwalking into a crisis’, and demanded immediate action to stop trusts cutting vital posts and services.
The RCN’s Frontline First campaign has identified more than 61,000 posts across the NHS in England that are now at risk or have been axed.
NHS Information Centre figures also reveal that the NHS workforce has fallen by almost 21,000 since the coalition government came to power, including a loss of more than 6,000 qualified nursing posts.
RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary Dr Peter Carter said: ‘For the past two and a half years, the government’s consistent rhetoric has been that frontline posts and services are being protected. Sadly, that is simply not the case.
‘Nursing is not being protected in the same way as some other clinical professions, with posts and training places often cut for purely financial reasons.
‘We believe all clinical professions should be afforded equal protection.
‘Currently, the nursing supply line is being choked and given the importance of nursing to provide high quality care, this has worrying implications for patients.
‘Indeed, if this current trend continues, we fear the worst for patient care in this country.’
The effect of the nursing cuts is magnified by the reduction in the number of nursing places commissioned by universities in England, warned the RCN.
In its Frontline First report into workforce changes since May 2010, the RCN said there is no justification for a decline in nursing numbers at a time of increasing demand for care, with an ageing population, and growing numbers of patients with long-term conditions such as diabetes and kidney disease.
But health minister Dr Dan Poulter tried to rubbish the report, claiming the RCN’s use of the word ‘crisis’ was ‘scaremongering’ and did not reflect reality.
Poulter claimed: ‘This government fully supports the NHS.’
