16 | Nursing in Practice | Summer 2022
Opinion and debate on the latest issues affecting nurses in general practice and the community nursingin practice. co. uk
Government can no longer ignore nurses’ concerns
Having long warned about underinvestment in staff, nurses are seeing the workforce crisis reach a tipping point at the very time when families desperately need the services they offer
Carolyn Scott is editor of Nursing in Practice
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Ministers still don’ t seem to be listening when practice nurses, health visitors and community nurses say workload has reached a crisis point. Of particular concern now is primary care capacity around child health, as we identify in this issue of Nursing in Practice. Problems have been allowed to worsen, such as the inconsistent access families have to the advice of a health visitor.
The Institute of Health Visiting has been warning for some time that the number of health visitors in post is unsustainably low, and inevitably this has now reached a tipping point. As cost of living pressures impact on families, and with the situation likely to get worse before it gets better, the health visitors and nurses we spoke to are increasingly concerned about the health and welfare of the parents and children they look after. Soaring demand for care, only added to by the backlog from the pandemic, calls for urgent workforce solutions, yet nothing is forthcoming from the Government. As we report, health visitors numbers are falling, leaving children – particularly those in struggling households – lacking access to the resources they desperately need. Vulnerable families need more support than ever before, not less, yet the tireless efforts of staff are not being matched by the required investment in services and workforce( see page 6).
Nurses have also been speaking out on behalf of colleagues coping with long Covid. While many of us are now moving on from the The tireless efforts of nurses pandemic, the nurses living with are not being matched by the effects of long Covid face a investment in the workforce devastating impact on their lives and careers. It’ s shocking that not all of them are getting adequate support from their employers. These nurses put themselves at risk as they cared for others during the pandemic and it’ s vital that healthcare employers look after those who are left with lasting effects( see page 10).
Nurses and GPs have also been championing the cause of women experiencing the impact of HRT shortages. The work that healthcare teams have done to educate women on the menopause, and build their own confidence in prescribing HRT, has contributed to an increase in demand that suppliers are currently struggling with( see page 32). This increased awareness about the menopause and its impact on women’ s lives and careers means nurses are increasingly asked to answer questions and support women’ s decision-making at this stage of their lives. More needs to be done to ensure the right provision across the country, and the voice of nurses is vitally important in this respect.
Nurses are right to speak out about these issues on behalf of patients and colleagues. But when will they finally be heard?