Nurses worried by PCT shake-up, says RCN

5 Oct 06
Fears over job security might prompt community nurses to leave the NHS following this week's rationalisation of primary care trusts, according to the Royal College of Nursing.

06 October 2006

Fears over job security might prompt community nurses to leave the NHS following this week's rationalisation of primary care trusts, according to the Royal College of Nursing.

The union said the reduction of PCTs from 303 to 152, which took effect on October 1, had an unsettling effect on community staff. Many of the new PCTs might cut services as they try to reduce the deficits of the predecessor bodies. They are also expected to come under renewed ministerial pressure to contract out their care services.

Janet Davies, RCN executive director for service delivery, said: 'Nurses working in the community are very worried about how this reorganisation will affect them and their patients. I am aware of some senior, experienced nurses who have been displaced and there is anecdotal evidence that some nurses are looking to retire as early as possible because of the uncertainty they are facing.'

Institute of Healthcare Management chief executive Sue Hodgetts also called for a period of stability.

She said: 'The NHS will have lost a significant and, perhaps, irreplaceable body of management talent — many of whom will have jumped, rather than wait to find out whether they had jobs to go to on October 1.'

PFoct2006

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