Royal College of Nursing warns against cuts to nursing staff

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has warned the government that the NHS cannot cope with the impact of further cuts to nursing staff levels.

Concerns have been raised by the organisation over NHS Information Centre workforce statistics showing that the number of qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff has fallen by more than 4,800 since April 2010.

The RCN has stated that it will be opposing further cuts on a local and national level on behalf of its members and their patients, as it believes these staff reductions will damage care quality.

RCN chief executive and general secretary Dr Peter Carter said it is essential that the NHS attempts to pursue better planned, managed and designed services to improve general wellbeing, thus keeping people out of hospital.

He added: "Cutting staff is a short-sighted and ultimately futile way of attempting to save money, as patients can end up waiting longer and being more seriously ill by the time they are treated."

Earlier this week, the RCN also voiced concerns over plans to expand NHS services abroad with profit-making ventures, something it believes will cause a distraction from core UK services.