NHS trusts hiring non-nurses for nursing roles, union warns

[Northerner]

NHS trusts are recruiting people without the right qualifications to act as registered nurses, despite the risk to patients, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has warned.

It criticised what it claims is a worrying trend driven by the widespread shortage of nurses in England, where there are almost 35,000 unfilled NHS nursing posts.

The RCN said the employment of non-nurses to work as nurses in hospitals and mental health facilities “should set alarm bells ringing with ministers” and would lead to worse care.

It published examples of advertisements posted by NHS trusts looking to fill nursing roles, including some senior positions, even if the candidate was not qualified as a nurse. One trust advertised for a matron – a managerial role usually filled by a senior nurse – to work in acute medicine but said that a qualification in nursing was not necessary.

NHS trusts hiring non-nurses for nursing roles, union warns

Royal College of Nursing says recruiting people without right qualifications puts patients at risk

www.theguardian.com

 

[trophywench]

Mmmmmm - so how long ago did nursing training - which was always done actively in hospitals - become a University Degree course? (- it ain't all that long ago when some student nurses were eg refusing to empty bedpans - I certainly didn't go to Uni to do MENIAL tasks!)

So perhaps they are saying, just because you trained before they invented degrees, this doesn't disqualify you ?

 

[mikeyB]

That is verging on criminal. To whom would I complain that my Insulin or Creon were not kept in my bedside cupboard? The matron wouldn’t even know what they were for, let alone know that they had variable dosage.

Who dreamed up this idea? And who thought for more than a second that a team of nurses would respond to instruction from someone who had no experience of nursing?

 

[trophywench]

Well, see, @mikeyB - that's exacting the reaction which the headline invites us all to respond with - but I was wondering, bearing in mind the parlous state of journalism in this brave new world - how true it actually is ....... before I join you, going apeshit about it !

 

[mikeyB]

You might ask why it is only England that has NHS Trusts. It’s because in Wales and Scotland they are not needed for an efficient NHS. And they cost loads of money, money better spent on patient care. It’s only in England that there is a plan for privatising the service - the NHS trusts are a model for that. They have added absolutely zero to patient care.

 

[pm133]

Reading the article the key phrase is when they talk about the emergence of "more integrated roles".

Those roles will require a broader range of experience which is probably why they are expanding the domain of people who can apply. Whoever gets these jobs is still going to have to demonstrate relevant experience and/or certificates. They are clearly not going to be hiring janitors to look after insulin supplies.

Add to that the fact that you can't trust newspapers to tell a story properly and you can't trust unions either not to distort their sde of things and really it's impossible to know what to believe.