New laws to guarantee safe staffing levels needed, say nurses

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is demanding the introduction of legislation to guarantee safe staffing levels in hospitals amid a recruitment crisis in the NHS.

Responses to Freedom of Information requests submitted to trusts by the RCN reveal that one in nine nursing posts – around 40,000 jobs – are now vacant in the NHS in England.

Four out of five NHS nursing directors are concerned that their hospitals rely on the goodwill of staff to keep services running, according to UK-wide research carried out by ComRes for the RCN.

Speaking at the college's annual conference, the RCN's Chief Executive and General Secretary, Janet Davies, urged ministers to ensure that nurses' goodwill is not taken advantage of.

She said: 'Pressure and demand have spiralled upwards at the very moment nurses' pay [is] headed the other way. They stay behind after 12-hour shifts to give patients extra care and go home exhausted and sometimes in tears. Too many now feel no alternative but to leave nursing.

'There is no certainty about the next generation of UK nurses joining either: they're deterred by low pay, pressure and new training costs, so the government desperately needs to keep the experienced ones we have.'

The RCN's Freedom of Information request also suggests that fewer care providers are now employing registered nurses, raising new fears over patient safety.

'When finances are tight, nursing budgets are slashed and patients can pay the highest price,' Davies added.

She warned that the government that it is in danger of being accused of doing 'nursing on the cheap'.