RCN responds to Conservative Party general election manifesto
Responding to the launch of the Conservatives' general election manifesto, Dame Donna Kinnair, Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said:
“The current shortage of 43,000 registered nurses can only be filled by registered nurses - with degree-level education. It is unfair on staff and inappropriate for patients to try to plug this gap with other staff.
“Today’s commitment to recruit and retain 50,000 more nursing staff above and beyond the existing students completing degrees is the right level of aspiration. However, we need more detail of how and from where these future professionals are going to be found. The emphasis must be firmly on growing the domestic workforce, as while we welcome nursing colleagues from around the world, an over-reliance on international recruitment is neither sustainable nor ethical in the long-term
“The current double whammy of both tuition fees and living costs for a nursing degree are a barrier to many wanting to pursue a nursing career, so we need additional funding for both elements, not just living costs as the Conservative manifesto proposes. Forcing would-be nurses to pay tuition fees has demonstrably failed in the last two years. With this announcement, Boris Johnson has not brought back the bursary - he is pledging to return one element of the package and keep the costly tuition fees in place.
“The number of future nurses being talked about here represent great ambition, but we will need to see some detail about how it can be achieved, and what this means for total investment, including to increase capacity for clinical learning placements in services.
“The RCN also calls on the next Government to restore funding for nurses' ongoing Continuing Professional Development to ensure that there is a sufficient specialist nursing workforce, and to support retention of nurses in the workforce.
“We are clear that legislation is needed in England to introduce clear roles and responsibilities for Government and the system to ensure there are enough nurses, and that staffing levels in all health and care services are safe.
“The RCN is ready to work with a new Government to understand how policy and funding interventions can be effective and have the required impact on growing and developing the nursing workforce.”
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