A shortage of medical staff ‘is causing crisis in community care’
Royal College of Nursing report says panic drive to fill hospital jobs after NHS scandals has left home based services seriously understaffed A panicked push to employ medical staff for hospitals, after a series of damning NHS scandals, has ignored a rising turmoil in community care, the Royal College of Nursing claims.Take a look at Residential Care Homes for much more on community care. Despite NHS plans to change care from hospitals, the community medical workforce has shrunk drastically in the last five years at the same time as the amount of nursing jobs in hospitals has risen. The workforce is down by more than 3,300 nursing staff, including 2,000 district nursing staff who offer care for individuals in their own residences or residential institutions - a 28% cut to just what the RCN says is an essential part of the community workforce. Inside a report - The Fragile Frontline - printed on Sun , the college calls on the next government to raise means for community healthcare, so that psychological and physical care might be safely provided outside of hospitals by a skilled workforce. Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the RCN, said: “Whoever forms the next government has to study this report and take immediate action to increase the nursing workforce and make sure it can maintain demand with a sustainable and long-term plan. “Compared with several troubles confronting the health service, the solution to the nursing workforce is quite simple and it is a matter of political will. With more individuals looking to nurse than ever, the next govt has the capability to increase training places and increase the supply of nursing staff. If it doesn't, it will be failing an era of patients. “As the election gets near there will be lots of promises, and a lot will be neglected. But the next govt can be assured that it will be judged in 5 years’ time on whether or not there's a adequately backed health service that is fit for the Modern day.” Immediately after Sir Robert Francis’s query into failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust in 2013, the link between bad patient care and hazardous employment levels became an urgent issue for the government to address. Trusts began raising the number of medical workers on wards all over England to take action on suggestions by the Francis report as well as in response to political demands. Between 2010 and 2014, the entire nursing, midwifery and health visiting workforce has increased as a result. Having said that, the drive to rejuvenate employment levels was generally limited to severe, maternity and neo-natal and paediatric nursing settings, it's claimed by the RCN. Mental health settings have instead lost 3,986 nursing posts and learning disability settings have lost 1,586. In 2011 the government unveiled the health visiting programme, aimed towards boosting the number of health visitors to more than 12,200 by March 2015. There's been an increase of 2,691 health visitors since May 2010, getting the total to 10,783 in December 2014. Having said that, after the impact of health visitors is deducted, community settings such as care homes have lost 3,332 professional nursing jobs. The RCN suggests in its report that, while it supports increases to the health visiting workforce, this should “not be at the cost of other job roles that are vital to patients getting essential quality care in the community”. Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham, answering the report, mentioned he was devoted to getting a lot more nursing staff into the system. The Observer presented last week that the rise in the nursing workforce was obtained by getting more than a quarter of new employees from overseas. Frontline clinical staff numbers increased by 11,100 under the coalition government, the Conservatives state, and it had committed to roughly 10,000 more community healthcare workers - 5,000 doctors and 5,000 drawn from nursing staff and allied health care professionals. Burnham stated that on “day one” in power he would add to the training places, with an objective of 20,000 further medical workers in the next 5yrs.