Vital Training Withheld From Nurses Due To Cutbacks

A recent poll has found that nurses are missing out on crucial training including basic life-support and dealing with infections like MRSA. A survey of more than 3,000 nurses commissioned by the Royal College of Nursing has found that over 30% had been unable to attend compulsory training in the last year due to staff shortages and a lack of cover. The RCN determined that the nurses were forced to either train in their own time or miss out all together.

The poll also found that 34% of the nurses had used their own annual leave to train and nearly 40% had used their own money to keep up to date with developments in certain areas such as infection and child protection.

Less than a third of those surveyed said they felt like they had received adequate training and the RCN has discovered that over a third of nurses had observed cuts in NHS services over the past year and feared they would lose their jobs in the near future.

Only 36% said they believed all patients needing specialist nursing were getting the appropriate care and over two thirds felt that specialist nurses were overloaded. Janet Davies, executive director of nursing and service delivery for the RCN, said: "We know from previous economic downturns that training is often the first place managers look when they need to start making cuts, even though nurses need to be up to date with issues such as infection control and child protection at all times."

Ms Davies also claimed it was the duty of NHS managers to ensure all the staff are up to date with training and have access to it when needed. But she did note that they are facing two key difficulties, staff shortages and lack of training.

Despite all this, a spokesman for the Department of Health said: "The 2009 NHS staff survey results confirm that NHS organisations are taking up their responsibilities for staff training and personal development set out under the NHS Constitution and that they recognise the importance of talented staff who are fully supported, in delivering high quality patient care.

Cutbacks for the NHS could mean fewer jobs for nurses and many graduates are looking for nursing jobs Hereford

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