21.06.16
RCN votes to condemn closure of government nursing advisory unit
The Royal College of Nurses (RCN) will campaign against the closure of the nursing, midwifery and allied health professions policy unit at the Department of Health following an emergency vote at its annual congress.
RCN members passed the resolution: “We condemn the recent decision to remove nursing expertise from the Department of Health without consultation and we call on Council to campaign for a strong permanent, and expert nursing voice at the heart of the Department of Health.”
They will now write to health secretary Jeremy Hunt to request an urgent meeting to discuss the plans.
Janet Davies, chief executive and general secretary of the RCN, called the plans “extremely worrying” and said that senior nurse leadership was needed “at the heart of government” to scrutinise policy.
The RCN and the New NHS Alliance have already called for members of the public to write to their MP opposing the plans.
The RCN congress also warned that the NHS is under unprecedented strain, with crisis-level pressures at hospital emergency departments becoming “the new normal”.
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