It comes amid a backdrop of around 40,000 registered nursing vacancies across the NHS in England alone.
Nurses and other NHS workers are “already exhausted” but now face the worse winter in NHS history, official statistics reveal.
The latest NHS performance data reveals a new record-high for the number of patients on waiting lists for treament.
Last month, there were over 2 million visits to A&E departments in England, the highest number in any September since current records began and over 100,000 patients waited over four hours for admission to a hospital bed.
It comes amid a backdrop of around 40,000 registered nursing vacancies across the NHS in England alone.
A knife-edge winter.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has warned that urgent action needs to be taken to fill gaps.
RCN England Director Patricia Marquis said: “Nursing staff are facing a knife-edge winter and are already exhausted. The Government must do all it can now to support those staff, such as providing psychological support where needed, and in the longer term take steps to improve recruitment and retention.
“It must make the health secretary legally accountable for workforce planning and supply and also pay nursing staff properly.
“Nursing is a safety-critical profession and patient care must be at the heart of the recovery of the NHS, but this can only be done by investing in those staff.”
The Government announced a £1000 bonus for former nurses and midwives to rejoin the health service.
Unsustainable.
The Health Foundation has warned that the current pressure on NHS workers is unsustainable.
Tim Gardner, Senior Fellow at the Health Foundation, adds; “Today’s figures demonstrate just how much care NHS staff are delivering in very difficult circumstances, but relying on their willingness to continue going above and beyond is unsustainable.
“We have not yet hit winter and services are already stretched. Last month, there were over 2 million visits to A&E departments in England, the highest number in any September since current records began. Over 100,000 patients waited over four hours for admission to a hospital bed – an unprecedented number before winter.
“While over a million people were seen for routine hospital care last month, the number of people waiting for treatment has reached a record high for the eleventh month in a row, with 5.7m people in England now waiting. Nearly 300,000 people have already waited more than a year.
