- Jobs ‘at risk’ because of spending cuts, according to Royal College of Nursing study
- Community nurses among those facing the chop
- A total of 26,000 jobs already gone in last two years
- Lansley receives frosty reception at nursing conference
By Phil Vinter
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Nurses heckled and laughed at Health Secretary Andrew Lansley today after he claimed clinical staffing levels in the NHS had increased.
Mr Lansley was speaking in the wake of a Royal College of Nursing (RCN) study that warned more than 60,000 frontline jobs in the NHS, including those of nurses, were at risk because of spending cuts, with almost half already gone.
Difficult reception: Andrew Lansley was laughed at after saying nurses should tell superiors if staffing levels were not safe
Heated exchange: Delegates cheer another delegate question the Health Secretary
He was laughed at by members of the audience at the RCN annual conference in Harrogate after saying nurses should tell superiors if staffing levels were not safe.
The reaction came when he told the conference in a question and answer session: 'If any of you have a view that staffing levels are literally not safe for patients I think part of your professional responsibility is to say that. Part of the responsibility of nursing directors and trust boards is to listen to what you are saying.'
And some in the crowd shouted “liar†after the Health Secretary claimed clinical staffing levels had increased on his watch.
He said: 'Across the whole of the NHS we have seen staffing levels reduce. But clinical staffing levels overall have gone up by nearly 4,000.'
One disbelieving delegate was overheard to mutter: 'He is living in a parallel universe.'
Feeling the pressure: Mr Lansley looked uncomfortable as he faced a hostile question and answer session at the RCN annual meeting
Later on Mr Lansley's claims were dismissed as 'nonsense' by RCN general secretary Peter Carter.
Speaking to journalists, he said: 'All this nonsense that there is more clinical staff now than there were a few years ago is simply not true.'
Department of Health figures showed the number of professionally qualified clinical staff increased by 4,141 (0.7%) between May 2010 and January 2012, taking the total to 630,378.
Over the same period, the number of non-clinical staff decreased by 18,130 (7.6%), according to the DoH.
However, the total number of qualified nursing, midwifery health visiting staff has also decreased by 3,677 (1.0%) over the same period, taking the total down to 350,235.
The comments follow new research by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) that claims that 26,000 jobs of staff working at the coalface have gone over the last two years with a further 35,000 set to go in the foreseeable future.
Pained expression: Lansley insisted cuts mostly affected non-clinical staff
The union claims government attempts to shift the burden of responsibility in the NHS from hospitals to community nurses is ‘a facade’ and that patient care will ‘inevitably suffer’.
Ministers have refuted the scale of the job losses claiming that double the number of community nurses and health visitors will be trained this year compared to last, but Health Secretary Andrew Lansley faces an uncomfortable time when he hosts a Q A session at the RCN conference in Harrogate later today.
Dr Peter Carter, General Secretary of the RCN, said community nurses were facing the impossible challenge of coping greater workloads with less resources.
He said: 'We are now seeing a clear and worrying picture of a health service which is struggling.
‘It is struggling to keep people out of hospital because of pressures on the community, and it is struggling to discharge them with support when they leave. Very soon, patients will be left with nowhere to turn.
'This is a revolving door for patients, but it also represents a false economy at a time when there is no money to spare.'
Impact: A new study by the Royal College of Nursing claims that 26,000 jobs of staff working at the coalface have gone over the last two years with a further 35,000 set to go in the future
The questionnaire of 2,600 community nurses also found that only one in ten said they had enough time to meet patient needs with nine out of ten reporting that their caseload had increased over the last 12 months.
It also found that 21 per cent said they saw patients being seen in corridors at least once a day with almost half knowing of patients who had faced long waits on trolleys in the past six months.Â
Dr Carter added: ‘We want care to be delivered closer to home, and we want community nurses to be empowered to keep their patients out of hospital, but at the moment this shift in the way care is delivered is simply a facade, with the community struggling to cope with the workload it has now, let alone the one it faces in the future.’
'This is a harsh reminder that both acute and community care are overloaded and the staffing levels are so low in both that there can be nowhere for patients to turn.'
Concerned: RCN general secretary Dr Peter Carter says the squeeze on healthcare resources will mean that 'very soon patients will be left with nowhere to turn'
The RCN said planned job cuts included more than 400 in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, a similar number in Sandwell and West Birmingham, 675 in Blackpool and a 23 per cent reduction in staffing numbers in South London up to 2015.
The Government was urged to take the 'stark' figures seriously.
However Health Minister Simon Burns said he did not recognise the findings, claiming that official statistics show there are currently only 450 fewer qualified nursing staff in England than in September 2009 with the number of managers slashed by 15 per cent.
He claims the ratio of nurses to beds in hospitals is going up and in 2011-12 more than 2,300 community nurses and health visitors will be trained up.
He said: 'We are giving nurses in hospitals and in the community more time to care.
'We want to remove excessive paperwork and bureaucracy and have asked the Nursing and Care Quality Forum to find ways to free up nurses to spend as much time as possible with patients.
'The Health and Social Care Act will make shifting care out of hospitals and closer to people’s homes simpler.
'No one should stay in hospital longer than they need to and we are already investing £300 million to help people return to their homes with the support that they need more quickly after a spell in hospital.'
Dismissal: Both Health Minister Simon Burns (left) and Deputy Prime Minister have refuted the job loss figures put forward by the RCN. They say twice as many community nurses and health visitors will be trained up this year compared to last.
A spokeswoman for Blackpool Teaching Hospitals also refuted the RCN's specific claims about job losses at its trust saying. A spokesman said although 300 jobs went last year, there no cuts to nursing staff and none were planned for the upcoming year.
She said: 'Providing safe and quality care to our patients is our key priority and we have actually recruited an additional 100 nurses over the past six months and are still actively recruiting more nurses this year.'
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg denied that the NHS was about to 'break' and said the Government did not 'recognise' the figures produced by the RCN.
Speaking on ITV's Daybreak he said: 'We actually think the numbers are relatively stable.'
'This year we are training about double the number of community nurses and health visitors than we did last year.'
He said: 'Unlike other public services, we protected the spending on t he NHS and increased it year on year on year. That shows our commitment to the NHS.'
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Typical of this, and other governments, to cut services while increasing taxes. Pay more, receive less. The NHS is at breaking point financially... is it? So why not cut spending for the freeloading NHS tourists first? This is our NATIONAL health service what we pay our taxes for. It is not an INTERNATIONAL health service
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I was stupid enough to vote conservative at the last election, I believed them when they said they would protect the NHS, but no more. I no longer believe a word they say on anything. I will never vote for them again.---- m.b, herts, 14/5/2012 12:13---- I worked voluntarily for the Tory party a few decades ago. It became obvious to me then that what they said in public was quite different from what was said behind closed doors. What was most disillusioning was the power of the donors and how they were becoming all powerful. This is now worse. The tactic the Tories use most is to set one group of low paid against the other in order to maintain their priviledges. They play to the vote of those who have just risen from poverty. The wealthy don't have the numbers to gain power otherwise. Their big advantage is that they have the support by and large of the media. This was very evident at the last election just look at the critism of Brown. Cameron was neve r subjected to the same scrutiny
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If Camerons or Lansleys close family members need cancer care, do you think they will go on an NHS waiting list? It is easy to make cuts when you know those cuts will never affect your family, at least it is if you are a British politician who as had an "empathy transplant" compulsory criteria in British politics.
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I work with the nurses and clinical teams and they are under tremendous pressures to maintain the standard of care we all expect. It is farcical that this 'government' denies the cuts they are imposing on the NHS. We all know that it does need streamlining and spending put under control, but not like this. Its not the question of cuts its how it's being mismanaged and the speed of the cuts. God help us if it gets any worse. My vote will never be Tory again until this bunch of 'MP's are gone. I wanted use more descriptive words but kept within the boundary of the comments allowed!
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I am so glad I quit nursing. You get abuse from all sides, poor pay, long hours, physically assaulted by patients, long hours. It's a truly dreadful job and good luck to those nurses still working. Most of them love the patients but morale is rock bottom. I was degree educated but of course I cared for patients essential needs, fed them, washed them etc. However nice I was I was called names, bitten, punched and scratched on a regular basis. All for £21000. I earn more money working in an office, I'm treated like an adult, I don't get abuse and DM readers don't seem to hate me. Oh and flexi time. I actually leave work on time now. I don't have back ache any more from patients who are able bodied demanding that I lift them. My advice? don't be a nurse. It's a thankless, horrible job.
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The Northern General hospital in Sheffield as closed a bay and removed the 4 beds in its cardiac heart surgery department “ Chesterman 4†The reason is lack of funds to pay for the nurses needed to take care of patients after open heart surgery . The result is patients operations being cancelled. This hospital plays a vital role in the surrounding area performing 5/6 heart by-pass, valve etc operations daily. Why is this allowed? I realise our NHS could be improved, but not at the expense of peoples lives. I’m tied of seeing politicians entering wards grand standing applying antibacterial cream and pretending to care for us. They are only deluding themselves we know what they are doing. Please let us have an election now.
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because now nurses are "academics" with a "degree" and people with degrees don't wipe up urine, give bedbaths or feed sick patients.... ooohh no, far too precious and "academic" for that. Time for the increasingly militant RCN to re-examine what they are for. - The Punisher, Darlington, HMP-ENGLAND, 14/5/2012 11:48 What rot. Look at the hospital abuse scandals of the 1960's-1980's. None of those nurses went to university. Also MOST NURSES DO NOT HAVE DEGREES. Most of them trained before university qualifications. Also what do you think a nurse does? On a ward they do complicated drugs rounds. Wound dressings etc. In ITU or theatres a nurse has a highly skilled job. They are not there to smooth fevered brows. The RCN is not at all militant. They are one of the weakest unions ever and they don't stand up for nurses. I used to work on a ward and the clipboards were for essential patient notes and observations. I know many degree nurses and none of them are too above themselves...
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If Lansley was in the Army he would be a PRIVATE his ideology is associated with the cronies including himself who have the INSIDER INFO on investment in the PRIVATISATION of the NHS.
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This bloke really must be the thickest minister in Plastic Dave entourage of imbeciles. I still cannot get my head around just how pathetically stupid he is. And whats more, he actually looks it.
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It doesn`t matter how bad the service is to a multimillionaire, he doesn`t have to use it. NHS employees, you have a vote, use it whenever you can to get your own back...vote tory, get misery......
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