Bytheway...Nowonderit’ssohardtorecruitnurses

THERE is now such a shortage of nurses in London that hospital wards and operating theatres are unable to function.

There are thousands of vacancies for nurses and, in some ways, this parallels the shortage of GPs. In both cases, there used to be multiple applications for every post, with the lure of a highly valued job for life and no prospect of unemployment.

What can be the factors underlying the shortage of recruits to the nursing profession? And, as with doctors, is it right that we are now forced to burgle trained professionals from Third World countries? Are these personnel, trained overseas, what we want?

To the second question first. Nursing needs a level of cultural understanding, not to mention a comprehension of mental health issues, learning disability, urgent and emergency care, maternity care and primary and community services as provided here in the UK — and it’s not clear to me that staff trained overseas have this.

But even given those strictures, I don’t think it’s ethical to take skilled professionals away from Third World countries.

As to why nurses are in such short supply here, there are a number of factors. But a key one is respect.

When I was a junior hospital doctor, both the doctors and the nurses were considered an elite: we were treated with respect — and we were treated well. Each hospital had nurses’ homes, substantial buildings close to the hospital in which they worked.

This meant that, even though their pay wasn’t handsome, there were compensations such as a place to live and no pressure to commute long distances — an important factor, given the antisocial hours nursing staff often have to work.

These precious assets were sold off long ago to try to fill endless spending cutbacks.

Meanwhile, the nursing profession has been devalued by scandals such as Mid Staffs and the Liverpool Care Pathway.

The cost of this is now counted poor recruitment.

in