A new report has been released by the RCN and the QNI. They have stated that the number of district nurses who are working in the NHS has dropped by over 43%. This is especially the case when you look at the last 10 years. If you work in a large nursing recruitment agency then this will certainly affect you. If you work in a nurse agency, then you will know that there are now only 4,000 district nurses caring for over 5.8 million people.
The long-term plan for the NHS was published earlier on this year. They have set out the aim to try and have more nurses and they are also going to try and serve people’s homes. They have even identified the services that are going to be crucial in meeting these goals. The joint report has urged a lot of people to undergo investment training to make this vision a much more viable reality.
The report has also warned that the district nurses are working hard to try and provide consistent and high-quality care to the pressures that they are facing with their service. The profession has faced somewhat serious recruitment difficulties in the past because the workforce consists of the older generation. The issue here is that there are now not enough nurses to go on to replace them and this could cause major issues in the future. District nurses are known for having a fundamental role when it comes to the care that is provided closer to home and if more isn’t done about this soon then it looks like even more problems could be faced in the future. That being said, only time will tell if the changes that are being made now will have an impact on the future.