The Government must be honest about widespread nursing vacancies and what steps need to be taken to keep patients and staff safe despite a depleted workforce, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) says.
This week NHS services in England moved to their highest level of emergency preparedness.
The RCN, the UK’s largest trade union and professional body for nursing staff, still has grave concerns about how services will be safely staffed – it's too late to find the nurses to meet the likely demands of this winter.
The College is worried that even though there are more nurses than last year registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), there are still around 40,000 registered nursing vacancies in the NHS in England alone.
This is sorely felt across all areas of nursing, from specialist areas such as critical care and cancer services, to the vital community services providing at-home care. When COVID-19 sickness absence is also considered, these gaps in the workforce put enormous responsibility on the nursing staff left working and an intolerable pressure on senior nursing leaders.
The RCN is deeply concerned these few staff could ‘burn out’ this winter unless local staffing plans proposed by NHS England prioritise the safest, highest quality care.
The nursing union maintains that nursing staff at all levels must be supported to raise concerns about staffing levels and patient safety, and for those concerns to be acted upon properly.
The Government says some nurses have been trained up to bolster critical care services to treat Covid-19 patients, but the RCN is very concerned that this may not be enough in itself to cope with a surge in demand, exacerbated by the second COVID-19 wave.
The RCN is demanding the Government pledge that decisions and planning about what the NHS can provide this winter are based on how many nursing staff are actually available and what those nursing staff can safely maintain.
Having the right number of registered nurses and nursing support staff with the right knowledge, skills and experience in the right place at the right time is critical to the delivery of safe and effective care for patients, the RCN says.
Mike Adams, RCN England Director, said:
“The NHS is now at its highest level of preparedness as it faces the prospect of an extremely challenging winter.
“We already know that frontline nurses, in hospitals, communities and care homes, are under huge strain, and anecdotally we’re hearing that in some hospitals they are becoming increasingly thinly spread on the ground, as staff become unwell or have to isolate at the same time as demand on services continues to increase.
“The Government says nurses have been given extra training to provide more critical care staff to treat Covid-19 patients, but there simply aren’t enough to go around. There are around 40,000 registered nursing vacancies across the NHS in England alone.
“It is essential that learning is applied to planning for this winter, including what service can be delivered safely with the workforce available.”
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