Nurses snubbed at top-level meeting on NHS pressures

Downing Street emergency forum hosted by prime minister and attended by health secretary fails to invite nursing leaders, prompting dismay and criticism

The government is being criticised for a lack of nursing representation at an emergency meeting to tackle the pressures in the NHS.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak hosted an ‘NHS Recovery Forum’ on Saturday, with health and social care secretary Steve Barclay, England’s chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty and NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard among those summoned to Downing Street.

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But it is understood there were no nursing leaders at the meeting, including England’s chief nursing officer Ruth May and representatives of the RCN. Other health unions, including the British Medical Association, were also uninvited.

New RCN president calls for urgent steps to redress lack of representation

Newly elected RCN president Sheila Sobrany tweeted that she was concerned about the lack of representation and asked what was being done to ‘redress this as a matter of urgency’.

Professor of healthcare and workforce modelling at London South Bank University Alison Leary also asked who represented nursing at the forum, while heart failure specialist nurse Samantha Blackledge said the profession had been ‘thrown to the wolves’.

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Four key issues were discussed, including delayed discharge to social care and improving emergency department (ED) performance, with the prime minister committing to publishing recovery plans to improve ambulance and ED waiting times in the coming weeks.

Mr Sunak urged healthcare leaders at the meeting to take bold and radical action to alleviate the winter crisis, telling them that a ‘business as usual mindset won’t fix the challenges we face’.

Critics call Downing Street meeting a talking shop that will fail to ease front-line pressures

But critics said the discussions were a talking shop that will fail to ease the vast pressure on front-line services after years of inaction.

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Nurses are preparing to strike again next week over poor pay and ongoing patient safety concerns. Emergency departments are struggling to keep up with demand, with many trusts declaring critical incidents in recent months.

Downing Street, NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care have been contacted for comment.

The RCN declined to comment.

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