We’ve had lots of important announcements this week, which help us to take the pulse of our profession.
The NMC released data on numbers of registered nurses and midwives in the UK. On the surface, the data seems fairly positive - increased numbers on the permanent register in 2019-20.
But if we look below the headline figures, we see the top reason for people leaving the register, after retirement, was too much pressure leading to stress or poor mental health. And we see a dramatic reduction in nurses and midwives joining the register from the EEA, alongside a marked increase in non EEA internationally recruited nurses, an over-reliance on whom is not sustainable.
It’s no surprise that so many of our colleagues are feeling the strain. It’s tough going to work every day when there aren’t enough of you and little light at the end of the tunnel.
UCAS released data this week too and similarly, it looks positive at first glance – there has been an increase in applications for nursing courses across the UK.
But application numbers for the nursing degree in England have fallen since 2016, the final year of the bursary. This means even if the all the latest applications are turned into acceptances and those students go on to become registered nurses, the large workforce gap will still not close.
On Wednesday, the Chancellor gave his Summer Statement but missed an opportunity to make long-term investments in health and care staff and didn’t announce any measures to address the long-standing issues of recruitment and retention in the nursing profession.
We know that before the pandemic, we had 40,000 nurse vacancies in the NHS in England alone. We need the UK Government to address the existing gaps – and ensure that nursing is attractive, well-paid, and meaningfully supported.
But they also need to see what is right around the corner. Many in our workforce are in the later stages of their career - a third on the register are over 50.
The Government must invest properly in our domestic nursing supply. In fact, it should aim to generate over-supply, given that this will likely never be achieved. This should include wiping the debt of those who’ve had to take this on to study, providing full tuition fee support for all students and ensuring maintenance support reflects students’ actual living costs.
And the UK Government must invest to strengthen the country by improving health and care services and their current workforces, and must be bold in doing so.
We need our NHS and independent health and social care sector services to be fit for the future.
Our members in the independent health and social care sector must be valued equally to their NHS counterparts, if they are to provide the services and care their populations need.
The RCN and other health unions won a victory for the UK social care sector recently when the UK Government announced specific funding for the social care sector for infection control measures in care homes – including workforce pay for sickness absences related to COVID-19.
Just this week, we had agreement from Four Seasons Health Care that their staff will receive full pay for any COVID-19 related absences and sick pay will be backdated to April 2020.
This shows how employers can demonstrate they value their hardworking nursing and care staff.
So as I reflect on the health of our profession this week, I feel positive, but determined. I know how hard our members are working in all settings and all sectors and the excellent care that you go above and beyond to provide every day.
But this is not sustainable given what we know about our workforce supply. We need bold action and investment now to solve the issues that the profession faces - and to provide the care our patients need and deserve today and into the future.
The NMC released data on numbers of registered nurses and midwives in the UK. On the surface, the data seems fairly positive - increased numbers on the permanent register in 2019-20.
But if we look below the headline figures, we see the top reason for people leaving the register, after retirement, was too much pressure leading to stress or poor mental health. And we see a dramatic reduction in nurses and midwives joining the register from the EEA, alongside a marked increase in non EEA internationally recruited nurses, an over-reliance on whom is not sustainable.
It’s no surprise that so many of our colleagues are feeling the strain. It’s tough going to work every day when there aren’t enough of you and little light at the end of the tunnel.
UCAS released data this week too and similarly, it looks positive at first glance – there has been an increase in applications for nursing courses across the UK.
But application numbers for the nursing degree in England have fallen since 2016, the final year of the bursary. This means even if the all the latest applications are turned into acceptances and those students go on to become registered nurses, the large workforce gap will still not close.
On Wednesday, the Chancellor gave his Summer Statement but missed an opportunity to make long-term investments in health and care staff and didn’t announce any measures to address the long-standing issues of recruitment and retention in the nursing profession.
We know that before the pandemic, we had 40,000 nurse vacancies in the NHS in England alone. We need the UK Government to address the existing gaps – and ensure that nursing is attractive, well-paid, and meaningfully supported.
But they also need to see what is right around the corner. Many in our workforce are in the later stages of their career - a third on the register are over 50.
The Government must invest properly in our domestic nursing supply. In fact, it should aim to generate over-supply, given that this will likely never be achieved. This should include wiping the debt of those who’ve had to take this on to study, providing full tuition fee support for all students and ensuring maintenance support reflects students’ actual living costs.
And the UK Government must invest to strengthen the country by improving health and care services and their current workforces, and must be bold in doing so.
We need our NHS and independent health and social care sector services to be fit for the future.
Our members in the independent health and social care sector must be valued equally to their NHS counterparts, if they are to provide the services and care their populations need.
The RCN and other health unions won a victory for the UK social care sector recently when the UK Government announced specific funding for the social care sector for infection control measures in care homes – including workforce pay for sickness absences related to COVID-19.
Just this week, we had agreement from Four Seasons Health Care that their staff will receive full pay for any COVID-19 related absences and sick pay will be backdated to April 2020.
This shows how employers can demonstrate they value their hardworking nursing and care staff.
So as I reflect on the health of our profession this week, I feel positive, but determined. I know how hard our members are working in all settings and all sectors and the excellent care that you go above and beyond to provide every day.
But this is not sustainable given what we know about our workforce supply. We need bold action and investment now to solve the issues that the profession faces - and to provide the care our patients need and deserve today and into the future.
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