VACANCY freezes and fears of redundancy and downgrading are continuing to plague the NHS as it heads for a £1.8bn surplus, a Royal College of Nursing (RCN) survey of specialist and experienced nurses has found.
The survey of almost 330 of the UK’s specialist and experienced nurses found a third said their organisation had a vacancy freeze in place and one in four have been at risk of redundancy in their current role, with 20% still at risk.
RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary Dr Peter Carter said: ‘It beggars belief that despite the NHS being on track to register a £1.8 billion surplus, specialist nurses are continuing to be targeted in a bid to cut costs.
‘Specialist nurses are our gold plated resources who make a huge difference to the lives of their patients. The loss of just one of these highly trained experts will have a disproportionate impact on patients.
‘These are the very nurses who will be at the centre of the government’s plans to deliver care closer to home and yet these same nurses are being treated as soft targets.
‘We should be looking at ways to recruit more specialist nurses and keep those already working in the profession. Targeting them for redundancy and under utilising their skills is sure to send them in the opposite direction.’
The RCN led the way in monitoring the deficits crisis in the NHS, publishing a damning report last year which showed the vast majority of specialist nurses said NHS cuts were having an ‘adverse’ effect on patient care, and almost half were aware of cuts being made to services in their specialist area.
The survey shows 27% of experienced and specialist nurses say cuts are being made right now.
The survey also shows:
• Almost half (45%) have worked outside their specialist area to cover staff shortages
• 68% say the number of patients/clients seen on a daily basis has increased since they started work in their current role
• Nearly half (47%) have been at risk of re-banding/downgrading; (17% are currently at risk; 18% have been at risk; nearly 12% have had their post downgraded/re-banded).
• Only 51% of the nurses felt their work was valued by their organisation.
One nurse said that in being removed from her normal work place to cover in another area, she lost her skills that she had acquired, she lost relationships built over four years and had ‘no job satisfaction in current work’.
