Supernurses ‘wasted on wards’

EXCLUSIVE: Helen Puttick, Health Correspondent

Published on 3 May 2010

Specialist nurses are being sent back to do ward duties as part of a cost-cutting drive at Scotland’s largest health board.

Documents seen by The Herald say the senior staff, who have been trained to support patients with particular conditions such as cancer, are to be used to plug gaps on the frontline left by cuts in other groups of nursing staff.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, which serves a population of 1.2 million, has ordered managers to slash their use of bank nurses, who provide vacancy and absence cover. According to the documents, clinical nurse specialists are now being asked to do regular shifts on wards to help fill the hole.

Matt McLaughlin, organiser for the health board’s branch of the Unison union, said the health board was changing the nature of nursing in its hospitals by the back door.

He said: “The health board is not going to say: ‘We are going to do away with clinical nurse specialists.’ There would be an outcry. This is being done in a way that is underhand and it is unacceptable.”

There are around 600 clinical nurse specialists working for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. They have extensive knowledge of specific conditions and provide in-depth help for patients, which helps cut the burden on doctors. UK research on nurses with a rheumatology speciality by the Royal College of Nursing found they increased efficiency in the NHS to the tune of £100m a year.

Specialist nurses have expressed concern about having to cram care of their patients into fewer days. Their ward shifts, which they have been asked to do once a week, are likely to include basic nursing duties such as washing patients and helping them use the toilet.

Mr McLaughlin said one of Unison’s concerns was specialists being asked to use skills they may not have used for some time, such as using equipment or managing violent patients. Staff, he said, have reacted with shock and disbelief to the plan.

He added: “Some people are saying if the board had come to them and said it was about keeping their clinical experience up, they might have seen the argument – but this is purely about cash.”

Ellen Hudson, associate director of the Royal College of Nursing Scotland, said any attempt to cut back on the time specialist nurses spend with those they were trained to help could be disastrous.

She said: “It is both short-sighted and reckless of health boards to divert these dedicated clinical experts away from the patients who need their skills.”

In a statement, the health board said: “The decision to roster our clinical nurse specialists one day per week in our acute wards is a positive move for patients, ward nurses and clinical nurse specialists.

“Our objective behind this initiative is to increase the amount of direct patient care provided by our specialist nurses, which clearly will be beneficial for our patients.

“Our ward nursing staff are keen for their clinical nurse specialist colleagues to work alongside them in the wards, as they will learn from and benefit from the expert knowledge of the clinical nurse specialist.

“Lastly it will be of benefit for the clinical nurse specialists themselves to return to the wards and work alongside the wider nursing team.”