Social Care News

Nursing recruitment crisis: task force wins RCN approval

Plans for a task force to promote collaborative working between the independent sector and the NHS over a nursing recruitment crisis have been given the thumbs up by the Royal College of Nursing.

The task force plan was unveiled at the All Wales Nurses Conference, organised by Care Forum Wales, in Llandudno on September 17 in response to the closure of several nursing homes because of the nursing recruitment crisis and in response to difficulties over recruiting qualified nursing staff in other homes across Wales.

The task force will also investigate ways in which the independent sector and the NHS can co-operate more closely and share good practice.

Nigel Downs, primary care and independent sector adviser in Wales for the Royal College of Nursing, said: "We are all fighting for the same nurses, so we need to look at how our workforce development is planned over the next 10 years.

"Anything to do with collaborative working should have a beneficial effect on both the independent sector and the NHS and help to improve standards of patient care.

"There is currently a shortage of qualified nurses in Wales," he added.

"In fact, a recent paper on the NHS acute sector shows that while the average care ratio is one staff nurse to every eight patients in the rest of the UK, in Wales it is one to every ten patients."

Read more on the nursing recruitment crisis in Welsh care homes

Care Forum Wales: Joint task force set up to address shortage of qualified nurses in social care

South Wales Evening Post: Swansea care homes face 'risk of closure' because of nurse shortage

Care UK:  Task force set up to tackle nurse shortage in Welsh care homes