26.09.12
Nurses’ posts decrease by 6,000
The number of nurses’ posts has fallen by almost 6,000 since the general election, official figures show.
Nurses’ jobs fell by 700 in June and the figure now stands at 5,780 fewer than the general election in May 2010. The number of health visitors is also down from 10,102 in 2010 to 9,949, according to data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre.
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: “The result is the NHS frontline is taking a battering from the Tory-led government’s mismanagement of the NHS. Over 5,000 nursing jobs have been cut on Cameron's watch, with 700 going in the last month alone.”
Health minister Lord Howe said: “There are always fluctuations in the workforce, and … there are almost 1,000 more clinical staff working in the NHS than there were in May 2010.”
Dr Peter Carter, RCN chief executive & general secretary, said: “You simply can’t take out this many posts without profoundly affecting patient care. One nurse being taken off a ward or out of a community nursing team can make a huge difference to the time the rest of the team can spend with patients.
“A reduction on this scale, happening over a short period of time, is something that the NHS as a whole will struggle to adapt to. It will also cost the health service money in the long run, as patients will start to be admitted to hospital unnecessarily.”
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