Fair pay protects patient safety

The nursing workforce in crisis – this week’s Nursing Matters hears from Professor Alison Leary, a Fellow of the RCN whose areas of expertise include health care and workforce modelling, and patient safety. Why is the nursing workforce in such a precarious position? How could this crisis be solved? As RCN members are asked to vote for strike action, why is nursing pay pivotal to the health, safety and wellbeing of the nursing profession, and the UK population? “We have a perfect storm now of pay restraint and an exhausted workforce that can't put his head above the parapet to even think about anything, an ageing workforce, and really poor working conditions…pay is one of the issues certainly.” I get messages from nurses pretty much every day, telling me they're the only registered nurse on for a ward for 32 patients with maybe a nursing associate and some support workers, or very commonly, they have 15 patients in an acute medical or surgical setting. All the evidence tells us that that's unsafe.” “The voice of nursing is the voice of the vulnerable, it’s the voice of patients. It is the voice of social justice. And without that voice, I really would fear what would happen to society in the future, particularly the people in society that can't speak for themselves.” Nursing Matters is presented by PNC chair Rachel Hollis and PNC committee member Carolyn Middleton. Tell us what YOU want us to discuss on the podcast by tweeting @theRCN with the tag #NursingMatters Presented by Rachel Hollis. Audio production by Alex Rees. Producer Jelena Sofronijevic. Music: 'Snappy’ by Jonathan Boyle under licence from premiumbeat.com. Nursing Matters is a Podmasters Production for the RCN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices