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Nursing in ‘emerging crisis’ due to critical lack of staff and burnout from ‘gruelling shifts’

MPs highlight the 50,000 vacant nursing posts in England

A CRISIS is taking shape in nursing, with up to 50,000 vacant posts in England and “huge numbers” of burnt-out staff thinking of quitting, MPs warned today.

The Commons public accounts committee (PAC) highlighted the widespread shortages of nurses and low morale among staff.

The MPs’ report coincides with the publication of research by the King’s Fund think tank and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Foundation warning of “damaging” working conditions for nurses and midwives.

Among the latter study’s recommendations is a review of 12-hour shifts to address issues of burnout and exhaustion.

And it says that “staff stress, absenteeism, turnover and intentions to quit had reached alarmingly high levels in 2019.”

The PAC report said that there was a “critical” shortage of 40,000 nurses and that the “pace of progress on increasing the number of nurses in the NHS is too slow.”

Committee chairwoman Meg Hillier said: “I fear, with the strain of a huge shortage of nurses and the worrying reports of low morale and huge numbers considering leaving in the next year, we are facing an emerging crisis in nursing.”

The Labour MP called on the government to “press on with coherent plans to get the nursing workforce back to capacity,” including working conditions that would “encourage hard-won, hard-working nurses to stay in our NHS and care homes.”

Labour shadow health minister Justin Madders said: “This is a devastating report that exposes the lack of long-term thinking and strategy at the heart of the government’s approach to the NHS workforce.”

Susan Masters, the RCN’s director of nursing, policy and public affairs, put the number of vacancies for registered nurses at 50,000.

She said: “At present, really ambitious and well-qualified young people are really struggling with gruelling shifts, staff shortages and poor pay.

“They feel they have no choice but to leave a career they should love, at a huge cost to patient care.

“Politicians and officials need to grasp the nettle before we lose even more.”

In response to the reports, an NHS spokesperson said that more than 13,000 nurses had joined the workforce “recently” and that applications for nursing degrees had risen by 22 per cent this year.

Last year, the Conservative government claimed that it wanted 50,000 more nurses in the NHS by 2024-25 – but it emerged that the target included encouraging nearly 19,000 existing nurses to stay on. 

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