YP Letters: NHS nursing shortage piles on pressure

WORKING in any environment experiencing staff shortages can be incredibly challenging and have potentially serious consequences. This is particularly true of nursing.

New figures suggest there were more than 1,540 nursing vacancies in the Yorkshire and the Humber region and some 23,400 nursing vacancies in the NHS in England, Wales and Northern Ireland as of December 1 last year. The latter is the equivalent to nine per cent of the workforce.

Sadly, this is no surprise to the Royal College of Nursing. Nursing posts are often the first target when savings need to be made, leading the NHS to find itself dangerously short and having to spend more on agency staff and recruitment from other countries. The UK is not training enough nurses to meet our needs and changes to student funding are yet another threat to future staff numbers. The consequences are felt by nursing staff and patients alike – nurses work under relentless pressure and patients face delays and unmet needs.

Tackling the problem is made no easier because vacancies are no longer collected, held or published centrally so we could effectively assess workforce gaps nationally. Freedom of Information allows us some insight but is by no means perfect. The gap between NHS staff needed and staff available must now be reduced as a matter of urgency.

From: Mike Padgham, Chair, Independent Care Group (York and North Yorkshire), Eastfield House, Scarborough.

ON behalf of the Independent Care Group, I wanted to pass on my hearty congratulations to Peregrine House in Whitby after it became the first care home in the country to receive the top mark of “outstanding” in each of the five categories of the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) inspection. With the inspection regime now the most demanding it has ever been, to achieve such a result is no mean feat.

Peregrine House has been recognised not only for the excellent standards it has reached but also for the innovative, creative and stimulating care it provides for its residents. It demonstrates that fabulous care is available for people across York and North Yorkshire and we should all be proud of that.

Tackling the rugby ban

From: Bob Swallow, Townhead Avenue, Settle.

I FIND it incredulous that certain members of the medical profession wish to ban tackling for youngsters learning rugby at school. What about soccer, cricket, climbing or even tiddlywinks in case one strikes someone’s eye?

I played both rugby league and union at a low but enjoyable level until I was 38. Sure, I got many minor injuries, my nose bearing the scars to this day.

One suggestion I would make, is to advocate the wearing of what in my day we called “scrum caps” which saved your ears being torn when playing in the second row. It is noticable these days that many professional players wear some sort of head protection in the backs in addition to the forwards.

Why not encourage those playing at school to adopt such a practice? It would do a deal to protect their heads rather than seeking an all-out ban which is never going to succeed.

Eleven-plus no barrier

From: Brian Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

DEFENDING grammar schools and secondary modern schools respectively, Mary Alexander and David T Craggs implicitly endorse the tripartite system of education introduced with the 1944 Act (The Yorkshire Post, March 5).

Pupils who failed the eleven-plus were not automatically written off, as advocates of the disastrous comprehensives would have us believe. My cousin was transferred from the secondary modern school to the grammar school; my wife attended the grammar school and became a grammar school teacher; her elder brother went to the technical school and had a successful career in further education; her younger brother went to the secondary modern, gained an apprenticeship and became a skilled fitter.

I never heard any of them complain about their education.

Fracking workforce

From: Sue Cuthbert, Newton on Rawcliffe, Ryedale.

I FEEL that a reply is needed to the article by Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom “Let’s stick to the facts in row over fracking energy” (The Yorkshire Post, March 1).

The fracking industry will not create up to 64,000 jobs as we are being told by Government. Fracking industries bring their own skilled workforce with them. The extra personnel involved are lorry drivers and some catering staff.

Oscar list

From: Paul Willetts, Stockton on Tees.

REGARDING Malcolm Haigh’s letter about the pure white list of Oscar nominees (The Yorkshire Post, March 4), I’m guessing he’s not black or of Asian extraction?