Nursing shortages forcing NHS to rely on less qualified staff – report

[Northerner]

The NHS is relying on less qualified staff to plug workforce gaps because of a huge shortage of nurses, according to a new report.

Support staff, such as healthcare assistants and nursing associates, have been used to shore up staffing numbers, said the Health Foundation charity.
The NHS has relied upon overseas recruitment, but a lack of EU nurses because of Brexit means it is now taking more nurses from countries such as India and the Philippines.

At present, there are almost 44,000 nursing vacancies across the NHS (12% of the nursing workforce), but this could hit 100,000 in a decade, the report said.

The analysis comes after the main political parties pledged to increase the number of nurses if they win the election.

https://www.theguardian.com/society...-wales-to-rely-on-less-qualified-staff-report

 

[grovesy]

This is not new to me , it has been creeping in for years.

 

[trophywench]

That was blatantly obvious when I was in hospital 2 years ago I'm afraid - and I wasn't ill. However I did have mega ketones and I was very impressed at the additional care received for that aspect, on top of everything else they needed to do.

 

[mikeyB]

It’s not rocket science. If you abandon nursing training bursaries, it’s an expensive skill to acquire for a relatively low paid job. That’s why there’s a nursing shortage in England and Wales. Grovesy quite rightly says it has been creeping on for years. I agree - since nursing bursaries were removed.

In hospital in Scotland, where nursing bursaries were maintained, and nurses are better paid, I never noticed any lack of nurses, nor did I notice any nurses stolen from less well off countries who can ill afford the loss.

By the way, Northie, the heading of the article makes clear that this applies to England and Wales. Your thread title doesn’t.

 

[grovesy]

It’s not rocket science. If you abandon nursing training bursaries, it’s an expensive skill to acquire for a relatively low paid job. That’s why there’s a nursing shortage in England and Wales. Grovesy quite rightly says it has been creeping on for years. I agree - since nursing bursaries were removed.

In hospital in Scotland, where nursing bursaries were maintained, and nurses are better paid, I never noticed any lack of nurses, nor did I notice any nurses stolen from less well off countries who can ill afford the loss.

By the way, Northie, the heading of the article makes clear that this applies to England and Wales. Your thread title doesn’t.

I was recently talking to an ex-collegue of mine she now recruits nurses for my local trust, they now recruit from overseas excluding the EU.