Ref Health Watch Nurse Recruitment

I am concerned with the government figures.The NHS tally was a deficiency of some
20,000 nurses short.The figures on recruitment are misleading in so far that
approximately 4000 nurses became available from contraction in the nursing home
sector.The agricultural industry and tourism have suffered a major blow so workers
would become available.7,000 approx would have come on stream from training
courses etc.

The next question is really where have those nurses gone?One suspicion is that they
have gone to health direct.So leaving the goal face but reappearing as a gain on
another set of books.

The story of nurse recruitment seemed a some what familar one to me.I found it was a
recycled story.If we then ignore the question of recruitment and measure
accidents,sickness deaths and suicides a rather different story is told as nurses reading this weeks Nursing Times would have found .A story of Zoe a nurse who had a
breakdown.Her story ended on a positive note I do not believe this to be true for
nurses suffering from ill health.I think we need to move away from romantic illusions
of ill health and nursing.Please help by encouraging truth in this discussion.I enclose
some details to support my arguement.
Yours Sincerely
Patrick Cooper-Duffy editor Soundworks

Please note source was Sky News? Saturday 16 Feb 2002
Nurse Shortage Serious - Report

Up to a fifth of nursing posts in Accident and Emergency departments are vacant,
according to a survey of 20 hospital trusts.
As A&E departments across the country brace themselves for the winter peak, the
findings by trade magazine Nursing Times have sparked warnings of compromises in
patient care.High vacancy rates and heavy reliance on agency staff or temporary nurses
are "serious" causes for concern, said the publication.Recruitment problemIts
investigation found hospitals in London and the South East suffer from the worst
recruitment problems at their busiest time of the year.The A&E department at Chelsea
and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust has a 19.3% nurse vacancy rate, with the
percentage of agency staff on a typical shift as high as 28%, the poll found.Ashford
and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs two A&E departments in Surrey, has a
17.62% vacancy rate.PatientsAnd the North Bristol NHS Trust has 16% of posts
unfilled, with 40% working on some shifts being agency or "bank" staff.A
spokesperson for the trust told the journal it was becoming more difficult to treat
patients safely because of the rising number of agency nurses being recruited. Skilled
workers were being lost to NHS Direct and walk-in centres which offer employees a
more attractive lifestyle, she added.