Campaign draws members’ stories

Royal College of Nursing members are sharing their stories of cuts and their ideas for reducing waste, following the launch of the RCN Frontline First campaign.

The campaign, now in its third week, is designed to highlight examples of budget cuts and the innovative responses of nursing staff towards efficiency savings.

Common themes so far among members’ stories include short staffing, skill-mix dilution, down-banding, recruitment freezes and service closures.

One RCN member says: “[The campaign] has given a little glimmer of hope in what seem like very sad and desperate times in the NHS… Last week my unit was told we would be merging with the next door acute unit… This move will put patients’ safety at risk and I will no longer have a job in September that I was interviewed for.”

RCN Chief Executive Dr Peter Carter says: “Do not think for a moment that you don’t have the power to change what’s happening where you work. You do. We just have to make sure we do it together.”