Royal College of Nursing warns 1 in 8 nursing posts are vacant

Britain’s biggest nursing union, the Royal Northern College of Nursing (RCN) has raised a red flag ahead of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) World Patient Safety Day.

On the fourth annual World Patient Safety Day, launched by the WHO in 2019, the RCN has warned one-in-eight nursing jobs are now vacant in England.

WHO’s theme for this year’s World Patient Safety Day is ‘medication safety’, and the RNC believe this is likely to be under threat as a result of NHS nursing crisis, which makes medication errors more likely.

RCN Director for England, Patricia Marquis said: ‘Keeping patients safe is at the heart of everything nurses and nursing support workers do and this year’s theme, medication safety, is about precisely that. 

‘But with a record one-in-eight nursing posts in England vacant, the workforce crisis means care is being left undone and patients put at risk.’

According to NHS England, there are currently 50,000 vacancies for nurses and midwives in England alone.

However, the UK is not alone in the shortage, with 50% of global healthcare jobs available at the time of writing for nurse and midwife positions WHO reports, although that figure is understandably given the two fields make up half the overall medical workforce

The RCN has said that the staffing crisis is growing worse as 20% of nurses in work are approaching retirement and low pay offers are discouraging potential new recruits from applying for jobs

Britain’s biggest institute union for nursing is now balloting its members on strike action this month. If industrial action is taken it will be the the first walkout in 106 years.

‘The public knows that nursing staff are their greatest advocates, and this support runs both ways,’ Ms Marquis said, ‘Ministers need to listen and pay nursing fairly – this is a simple way to recruit and retain more of them.’

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