The weather has turned noticeably colder this week. For many nursing staff, this comes with a sinking feeling, knowing that with colder weather comes additional pressures on our already overstretched health and care services.
New figures released for the NHS in England show hospitals are full to bursting, with alarmingly high bed occupancy rates, and more than 42,000 vacant nursing posts.
The statistics are shocking, but what they don’t show is the human cost of a broken system that’s been caused by years of chronic underfunding.
Just yesterday, the UK government claimed “success” for reaching its 50,000 extra nurses target. This was a pledge the Conservative Party made as part of its election campaign in 2019 but it had no grounds in the reality of demands on health and social care.
Our analysis shows the NHS waiting list has grown four times faster than the nurse workforce in that time. We know you’re caring for too many patients on every shift. You’re spread perilously thin meaning patients, despite your very best efforts, are left waiting longer. It’s heartbreaking, and exhausting.
That’s why we will always fight for you, and always fight for your freedom to advocate for your patients. We’re doing everything we can to challenge changes in the law that will make strike action by nursing staff more difficult, and less effective.
The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act is a draconian attack on your freedom to strike for patient safety and fair pay. Despite reassurances from Penny Mordaunt MP to the House of Commons in January that the legislation would not target nursing staff, the government has gone back on its word. The new legislation will force members of the profession to work during strike action or face the sack.
This from a government which refuses to back legislation to guarantee safe staffing levels all year round whilst giving NHS nursing staff the lowest pay rise in the public sector. Following the pay offer to NHS consultants this week, we have written to the Health Secretary to demand that negotiations with the RCN restart urgently.
The government has shown it has the political will to reform pay for other professions, while our members have been undervalued again. Though we want all staff providing health and care services to be paid fairly, it is time for nurses and nursing to be treated with the respect they deserve and for nursing pay also to be reformed.
Nursing is one of the most diverse and female-dominated professions within the public sector. The greatest pay inequality in the NHS relates to nursing. This must be addressed.
In the continuing absence of a devolved administration, I would encourage all RCN members in Northern Ireland to about the absence of a pay award. It is an outrage that members in Northern Ireland have yet to receive any pay rise for 2023/24. Nursing staff are being held to ransom by the lack of political movement, which is also causing untold damage to health services and patient care.
In Scotland, though we’re no longer in dispute with the Scottish government over NHS pay, we continue to apply pressure over its commitment to reform Agenda for Change.
Recommendations have been agreed by the RCN and other joint health trade unions which include proposals for a reduced working week, protected time for learning and a review of band 5 nursing roles, alongside other issues. At this stage, it is not clear when the cabinet secretary will announce his decision.
Meanwhile, The King’s Speech earlier this month did little to address the nursing workforce crisis. Despite announcing 21 bills, mention of health and social care was conspicuous in its absence.
This was the UK government’s last opportunity to set out a vision to reform the NHS before the general election – yet that opportunity was squandered. Instead, the government perpetually hails its NHS long term workforce plan as the silver bullet in solving chronic nursing shortages built up over more than a decade. The ambitious workforce plan will remain a pipedream without proper investment and critical detail on how it will be achieved. Nursing staff won’t tolerate a status quo of low pay and endlessly increasing demands.
In Wales this week, we launched our latest report on the impact of the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act on patient outcomes. It's been seven years since the law was implemented following intense RCN campaigning. It's proved to increase the number of nurses on wards covered by legislation, directly improving patient care, but guidance must be developed to ensure it is applied consistently.
The RCN is still campaigning for the act’s full potential to be realised through statutory and operational guidance across all care settings.
