“Unacceptable level” of pressure on nursing staff – Ashworth

Jonathan Ashworth,
Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to the Royal College
of Nursing’s new “Against the Odds” report, said:

“Seven years of
Tory mismanagement and underfunding has placed an unacceptable level
of pressure on nursing staff to keep NHS services running. 

"The Government
is constantly asking NHS workers to do more with less, and over 70
per cent of nurses surveyed by the RCN have said their last shift had unsafe
numbers of staff. This is a threat to the quality of care which patients can
expect to receive. 

"At
the election Labour promised to bring in a new law to guarantee safe
staffing levels in hospitals. Ministers must step up and explain what action
they’re going to take to get enough nurses in place to keep services for
patients running safely.”