Responding to the Prime Minister’s speech, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Professor Nicola Ranger, said:
“The best reform in the NHS looks beyond its own doors and at investment as well as the delivery and standard of each service. Only that holistic approach will achieve the aims being set out today by the Prime Minister.
“Patients faced a tough summer in emergency departments and the NHS itself is already fearing another deeply challenging winter. Nursing staff will stand up for their patients and continue to challenge care standards and why nobody should face treatment in a corridor or armchair. They can provide high quality care and believe ministers, with their advice, can make that happen.
“Current failure to invest in community health services is directly linked to declining population health and the intolerable pressures in hospitals. Nursing staff who deliver preventative care have seen their numbers collapse over the last decade and patients can’t wait another ten years for this to be fixed.
“Today the government has begun its journey to turn around health and care after years of neglect. This must start with significant investment in the nursing workforce to make any reforms or shifts viable.”
Ends Yesterday, (Wednesday 11 September) the RCN released new analysis looking at specialist community nurse numbers in the NHS in England - Specialist nurse workforce on track half in size compared with two decades ago, as RCN urges government to intervene on eve of Darzi review | ÃÛÌÒÖ±²¥
