Expressing apprehension over the concerning decline in the nursing workforce, Sir Julian Hartley, CEO of NHS Providers, urged the forthcoming government
to bolster investment in nursing education and enhance support for student nurses.
Recent analysis from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has projected that the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan will fall short by 10,000 new nurses by 2025.
Commenting on the RCN analysis, Sir Hartley underscored the critical importance of having an adequate number of nurses to ensure the delivery of safe,
high-quality patient care.
"Without enough nurses, the delivery of safe, high-quality patient care is compromised," he said.
He cautioned that the predicted shortfall in nurses would exacerbate existing pressures on the NHS, resulting in long waiting times, delayed treatments and
staff burnout.
A new survey by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has made a concerning revelation about the rise in nursing students contemplating quitting.
Nearly half of nursing students in England are contemplating quitting their courses before completion.
This alarming trend threatens the NHS England Long Term Workforce Plan, published a year ago, which aims to significantly expand the nursing workforce by 2036/37.
The survey also highlights a dramatic 20 per cent decrease in the number of students enrolling in nursing degree apprenticeships over the past two academic years.
This decline underscores the urgency of addressing the challenges faced by nursing students, including increasing financial pressures due to the cost of living,
insufficient teaching and supervision, and mental health issues as the primary reasons for consifdering quitting.
Following the UK government's new pay offer to NHS consultants, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) wrote to the Health Secretary Victoria Atkins calling for
fresh negotiations about nursing pay in England last week.
However, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has rejected their demand, stating that there is no basis to reopen talks as the pay deal was accepted by
the NHS Staff Council.
In the previous pay deal, nurses were given a one-off payment between £1,655 and £3,789 for 2022/23, and a 5 per cent consolidated pay increase for the 2023/24
financial year.
Nursingnotes quoted a DHSC spokesperson as saying: "We hugely value the hard work of NHS nurses and that is why we provided a 5 per cent pay rise.
"We also provided two significant non-consolidated awards, which for nurses at the top of Band 5 was over £2,000, equivalent to an extra 6.1 per cent of their
basic pay.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has expressed "extreme disappointment" that the UK government offered new pay to NHS consultants, while nursing pay deal
remain disputed.
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Pat Cullen has written to new Health Secretary Victoria Atkins demanding fresh negotiations regarding this year's pay
deal, and requested an urgent meeting to discuss their dispute.
Pat warned that more than 100,000 RCN members in England voted for continued strike action in June, as they feel undervalued.
"The government has now shown it has the political will to negotiate on pay reform for some of the highest earners in the NHS in contrast to our members who
received the lowest pay rise in the public sector," she wrote in the letter.
NHS nursing staff in England was awarded a five per cent pay rise 2023/24, but the union argued that it is not enough to keep up with inflation.
The aging process can bring with it physical, emotional, and financial changes that can impact elderly parents. As children of aging parents, it is important
to be aware of their changing needs and help them adjust to these changes. With the right support, elderly parents can maintain a high quality of life in their senior
years. Here are some suggestions on how to help older parents.
1. NURSING SERVICES
Nursing services can help aging parents manage their physical needs and provide peace of mind for them and their families. They can help with personal care, assist
with medication management, and provide guidance on diet and exercise. Additionally, getting home care nursing services can also provide elderly parents with a sense
of companionship and reduce their risk of social isolation. If your parent is in need of nursing services, be sure to research options in your area and look for an
experienced provider who will treat them with respect. It's also a good idea to visit them regularly and check in with the nurse to ensure that your parent is
receiving quality care
Take caution when purchasing cheap pillows Cheap nursing pillows often emit dangerous monomers. Furthermore, they often skimp on the size due to costs. They are either too full - and thus too stiff - or too empty, the pillowcases do not fit and then even shrink . . .
The new Big Moon from Theraline is a handy alternative to the Original Theraline Maternity & Nursing Pillow. The moon shaped pillow is perfect for relaxed nursing or even for relaxing. The fluffy polyester layer on one side of the inner cover creates a sleep & relaxation comfort as never before.
The Original Theraline Maternity & Nursing Pillow has a filling made up of millions of micro beads that are light as a feather. This amazing filling conforms to the shape of your body, no matter what position you are in ... whether lying down or sitting up and, unusual for a pillow, it always remains firmly in place without giving way.
For people who spend the majority of their days sitting in standard wheelchairs or lying in beds, pressure sores are a very probable reality. Yet they don't have to be, thanks to assistive technology like tilt or recline wheelchairs that help distribute pressure to other parts of the body.
While pressure relief is the main objective to using either a tilt wheelchair or a recline wheelchair, each has its unique qualities that help with posture. (Even though some chairs come with both tilt and recline options, for clarity purposes, they will be addressed as two separate seating systems.)
"Obviously, a tilt wheelchair does a better job of providing postural stability by not changing any of the angles of the knee and hip, while recliners allow the pelvis and hips to move through approximately 90 degrees of motion. Both seating systems have their own specific functions," noted David Kreutz, PT, seating specialist at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta.
Reclining wheelchairs move the body from a flexed position to an extended position, making the chairs more likely to elicit a spastic response in the user.
Because tilt and recline chairs use gravity to their advantage and come with head rests, patients who have poor head, neck and trunk control may benefit from the stability and balance they provide. When in tilt or recline, gravity helps the patient improve balance and head control.
Once a tilt chair is prescribed for a patient, it is important to teach the caregivers how to use the tilt function and position the patient correctly. If a patient is cognitively intact, it is also important to teach that individual how he or she should be positioned in the chair, to be able to instruct caregivers.
Candidates who would be suited for a recliner chair are those who cannot achieve a 90-degree hip-to-back angle when sitting. For example, patients who have hip precautions following total hip replacement surgery, patients who have had cardiac surgery and might develop
The health care industries are witnessing the growth and advancement, especially at the point of introducing simulation usage, and this lead to a total dependence on simulation training in the field of nursing.
The use and practice of simulation include the training of the nurses by using pre-defined scenarios and giving a clear note of where and when improvements are necessary, and possibly applying the results to every available clinical practice.
Being able to access high-quality healthcare at the times you need it most is vital. Regardless of whether this is a simple check-up, a medical review or
complex surgery, having a suitable healthcare package designed according to your medical needs will be beneficial in the long run.
The NHS has recently come under significant strain. Factors such as an increase in the number of patients, reduced funding and increased life expectancy have led to
long waiting times and limited treatments.
As a result, more individuals are now seeking private healthcare which, while it may be more expensive, offers faster and more effective treatment. Here we'll discuss
some of the main benefits of private healthcare and why it is becoming the ideal choice for healthcare in 2023.
Reduced waiting times
One of the main issues faced by the NHS is waiting times, with some patients being made to wait up to a year for routine hospital care. Currently, ambulance services
and A&E units are under unprecedented pressure and it is estimated that hundreds of deaths each week are associated with admission delays.
Understaffing has been a chronic issue in recent years in the NHS and is a major threat to the welfare of patients. This has been one of the major concerns that has
led to nurses and ambulance staff taking strike action. As nurses and hospital workers are put under higher strain, they are more likely to make mistakes, which
could well lead to patients coming into harm and making a claim.
Opting for private healthcare guarantees that you are able to access your appointments, surgeries and treatments much quicker, with some flexibility offered to align
with your lifestyle. The capacity to bypass the painfully long waiting times ensures you receive the necessary medical attention much sooner and could prevent the
emergence of other health complications.
Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and the Royal College of General Practitioners in Scotland hosted an event celebrating the collaborative work of the health
professions and policy makers in Scotland on reducing the environmental harm from prescribing and medicines use.
To share priorities for the Scottish Government, Alpana Mair, Head of Effective Therapeutics and Prescribing spoke and National Clinical Director Jason Leitch
appeared virtually. Gillian MacKay MSP, Scottish Greens spokesperson for Health and Social Care also joined in-person.
Medicines account for around 25% of the NHS's carbon emissions and have an ecological impact when they enter our wastewater system or our rivers and oceans.
Tackling the impact of prescribing will be a key part of meeting the ambition of a net zero NHS Scotland by 2040 at the latest.
Together, RCGP Scotland and RPS have held two roundtable events on sustainable prescribing, and in June 2022, released a joint statement calling for a wide range
of actions, which was signed by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, the Royal College of
Anaesthetists, the College of Radiographers, Royal College of Nursing, Queen's Nursing Institute Scotland and Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.
Continuing the work of RPS at the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare, the event aims to mark an opportunity for health professionals and
decision makers alike to join a global movement of sustainability in healthcare, and pledge to continue the important work of cutting the climate impact of medicine
use while maintaining the highest level of patient care and safety.
Recent NHS data sheds light on the evolving landscape of fit note certification, indicating a gradual expansion of roles beyond traditional medical
practitioners to pharmacists and nurses.
This uptake in numbers coincides with the Department of Work and Pensions's (DWP) call for evidence in relation to fit note reform which will remain open
till 8 July 2024.
According to figures published by NHS Digital, during the nine-month period from April 2023 to December 2023, pharmacists certified a significant number of
fit notes.
Approximately 1.4 per cent of fit notes of the 8 million were issued by pharmacists while the rest were issued by the GP surgeries reflecting the impact
following legislative amendments in July 2022, which extended certification authority to pharmacists, nurses, occupational therapists, and physiotherapists.
In June 2022, the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) advised pharmacists not to sign fit notes where the required therapeutic, diagnostic, or examination
skills lie outside their scope of competence.
The association remarked that healthcare professionals needed mandatory training under the Health Education England before they are fit to issue fitness notes
to the public.
National Health Services (NHS) patients across England are set to experience a significant enhancement in accessing key healthcare services such as
community nursing through the expansion of self-referral options that no longer require a GP appointment.
The recent announcement is part of the NHS primary care access recovery plan and is set to offer hundreds of thousands more individuals each month the opportunity
to refer themselves for essential services such as "incontinence support", "podiatry", or "hearing tests" without GP referrals.
This move aims to alleviate the burden on general practitioners through self-referrals for more than 180,000 patients, allowing them to focus their time and
resources on patients in need of immediate care and recover the long waiting times.
As per the NHS data, approximately 200,000 people per month self-refer themselves which under the new plan will extend to additional critical services tailored
to local population needs to "continue modernising GP, expand pharmacy services, and offer patients more choice in how they access care".
"Record long NHS waits are forcing huge numbers of people out of work, including doctors and nurses," said Wes Streeting MP, Labour's Shadow Health and
Social Care Secretary as Labour announced a new partnership with Nuffield Health today to tackle joint pain issues among NHS staff and reducing waiting lists.
Musculoskeletal problems, including back, knee, hip, and neck pain, are the second leading cause of NHS staff absences, surpassed only by mental health issues.
In December 2023 alone, NHS workers missed a record 198,000 days due to these issues, marking a 13 per cent increase from the 174,000 days recorded in December 2019.
Nurses and health visitors accounted for 52,000 of these days, up from 47,000 pre-pandemic, while doctors took 3,500 days off, a 9 per cent increase from 2019.
The partnership with Nuffield Health will provide up to 4,000 extra places for NHS staff in Nuffield Health's Joint Pain Programme at no cost.
Alora SN Note for iPad gives nurses conducting home health visits unparalleled accuracy and convenience. "Alora SN Note," which in essence is a software extension to the cloud-based Alora Home Health Software, allows a home health nurse to enter Skilled Nursing Visit Note and capture signatures, without the requirement of Internet access.
Long-term care refers to a wide variety of services that help meet the medical and non-medical needs of people who cannot care for themselves due to chronic illness or disability.
"Patients deserve choice, but wherever they go they will find vacant nursing posts and overstretched services," responded Professor Pat Cullen, RCN
General Secretary and Chief Executive, to the introduction of the new pilot scheme for out-of-hospital patient care.
The NHSE and the DHSC have announced a new pilot scheme commencing in autumn "offering patients a choice of where they receive out-of-hospital care".
Under the initiative, individuals requiring treatment outside of hospitals will have the opportunity to select from a range of providers across both the NHS
and the independent sector.
Patients can select their care provider for in-hospital consultant-led services post-GP consultation, offering a choice from at least 5 providers with details
on waiting times, distance, and quality.