Government should 'get its act together' over nursing shortage

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Northerner

Northerner

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The Department of Health has been criticised over a shortage of nurses and told to "get its act together", by government advisers.

The Migration Advisory Committee also accused the health sector of seeing immigration as a "get-out-of-jail-free-card" and an answer to the shortage.

The lack of nurses is down to factors "which could and should have been anticipated", it said.

The government said it planned to train more "home-grown nurses".

The latest report from the committee, despite being highly critical, has "reluctantly" recommended that nurses from outside Europe should be made a priority for up to 5,000 visas to work in the UK each year, for the next three years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-35892006
 
Hate to say it but I'm not surprised. There'll be even LESS nurses now they've scrapped all bursaries for student nurses come 2017. The government are saying that this new initiative allows universities to accept more nurses but it's complete crap. There were 38 mental health nursing places at my university and now people have dropped out there are probably about 30 of us left and the university still struggles to find enough placements for us to meet the Nmc requirement. This is happening all over the country. There aren't enough placement opportunities for the students currently never mind If universities take on more nursing students. There's no way they'll be able to accommodate everyone. Plus, the only reason I am able to train is because of the Bursary. It allows mature students to fulfil their dreams of nursing. People aren't going to want to leave uni with £45000+ debt which is over double what their starting salary will be!

In five or so years time, well be crying out for nurses from abroad. The number of MH nurses has already fallen by 10% (I don't know figures for.other kinds of nursing but I imagine they will follow the same suit) which is a very depressing thought

Sorry, I feel passionate about this ha!!
 
Oh, and we need more nurses to become nurse mentors. Even if the universities managed to accommodate all students and find placements for us all, without nurse mentors to teach us clinical skills we're screwed! There's definitely not enough (probably because there's no incentive to become a mentor)

Kind of derailed this tread with my rant but it's still related :D
 
Well, I know very little about it, but it seems obvious to me that government 'initiatives' are completely failing to address the shortage of nurses :( By removing the bursaries they are putting nursing on the same level as many other options that will be far more attractive and lucrative than nursing, and with a much better chance of paying off loans. They should be increasing the amount of money available for bursaries, not converting them to loans, to make nursing a more attractive prospect, not less attractive. No doubt we stand to lose out on many thousands of dedicated, hard-working people who would make brilliant nurses because the prospect of a huge debt is just too much to bear :( The government claim to be putting more money into mental health care, but this is pointless if there aren't enough good people to staff it :( Mental Health care has to be one of the hardest, most vocational paths a person can undertake. The government have gone one step too far in ripping the carpet from under those who were considering this profession and now will find it impossible :(

None of this situation is a surprise, but over the past 6 years the government have done NOTHING to anticipate and plan for it :( 😡

Thank goodness for people like you Rosie, you are the cream of our society, and should be treated as such! 🙂
 
You're completely right! Nurses in all fields are over worked, under paid and under staffed and the government/media seem to love demonising nurses when they should be praising them! Currently, we get a Bursary to pay for the course fees and a monthly Bursary to live off instead of a student loan. They're now making all student nurses as of 2017 get loans to pay their course fees and loans to live off instead of bursaries. That leaves people with masses of debt that a lot of mature students simply cannot afford. People struggle enough as it is now to survive on the course without the prospect of thousand of pounds of debt! It will inevitably force people into different career paths. Who's going to want to do an extremely difficult three year uni course to come out with loads of debt and work all hours God sends just to pay off the debt which is more than twice than your annual income! Nursing is not easy and the government are making it even harder!
 
Actually, I feel that other health professionals, such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiographers, medical laboratory science officers all deserve special consideration, such as bursaries instead of loans for university stud, something they've never had. Plus nurses should continue to receive bursaries instead of loans.
 
Copepod said:
Actually, I feel that other health professionals, such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiographers, medical laboratory science officers all deserve special consideration,such as bursaries instead of loans for university study.
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A lot of them do! Maybe not medical lab science officers but physios, OTs and (I think!) radiographers do get bursaries and course fees paid. If I'm right, the new scheme applies to ALL healthcare professions, just nursing is in the public eye more often than the other professions. I think it's classed as "Nursing and Allied Health Professions"
 
Copepod said:
Actually, I feel that other health professionals, such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiographers, medical laboratory science officers all deserve special consideration,such as bursaries instead of loans for university study.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't argue with that 🙂 Surely it's in our best interests to support people into these professions, particularly in light of the fact that we have a growing need due to an ageing population, living longer and with more chronic conditions? Cost should not form a barrier to training for such essential occupations, that our society will always need.
 
Having just had a spell in hospital I was stunned at the number of foreign agency nurses. Some were excellent especially the Thai nurses but they are paid much more than the NHS nurses and it creates bad feeling.

I had opportunity to talk to the Staff Nurses about how disallusioned they feel and they mentioned the removal of the bursaries and the impact it will have on home grown recruitment. What really concerned me was the worry they have about the quality of some of the East European nurses who are brought in to cover.

It's just another example of a Govt losing a grip on what really matters to the British people.
 
Rosiecarmel said:
A lot of them do! Maybe not medical lab science officers but physios, OTs and (I think!) radiographers do get bursaries and course fees paid. If I'm right, the new scheme applies to ALL healthcare professions, just nursing is in the public eye more often than the other professions. I think it's classed as "Nursing and Allied Health Professions"
Click to expand...
Exactly. All too often, the media names only "doctors and nurses" when they should say "all health care professionals" or "all NHS staff" depending on pount being made.
 
I agree, people often over look the other essential services that help run the NHS. Without radiographers for example, nobody would ever be able to get x-rays! Yet they never get mentioned in the media
 
We have an acquaintance who was a MH nurse, and was asked if he'd like to do the Uni course to become a MH Specialist Nurse. He decided he would, and thus be able to progress, totally committed. Studied like I dunno what and gained the coveted degree with flying colours. Hoorah!

Then he found out that HE was the replacement for the psychiatrist who'd stuck his two fingers up at the NHS so he had to do his own job, train other nurses such as yourself, Rosie, supervise all the nursing staff on his Unit - and do the Doctor's job as well. He had a complete breakdown - mainly because he knew he couldn't provide the care that the patients needed any more and being such a caring and conscientious bloke - he hated that and it worried him too much. Now has a roving job with a company running 'carehomes for the aged and confused' and advising/managing at about double the salary and half the hours.

He loves it.

This is a bloke with a wife and three kids, one of whom is still at school, the next eldest is at Uni and the eldest is gainfully employed. So he wouldn't change horses mid-stream without there being sufficient reason, and lots of lost sleep.

It stinks. Paul was just the sort of bloke they should have been sh!tting themselves to KEEP.
 
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