Celebrating Nurses Day 2023

Esther Clift is  Chair of Nurses and Allied Health Professionals (AHP) Council for the BGS. She tweets @EstherClift

This year has been another rollercoaster year for all our workforce. The system is hotter than it has ever been, with colleagues bearing the pressure of working within a creaking NHS, and the complexity of navigating life with a cost of living crisis and adjusting to the ‘new normal’ of our 2023 ways of living and working.

This year has seen, for the first time ever, our nursing workforce go out on strike, which has led to huge personal conflict. I know of no nurse who went on strike without counting the cost, both to themselves, but also to patient care. It really has been the last resort.

As I write, negotiations are at an impasse, and further strike dates are being discussed. How have we reached such a place?

Our whole workforce feels so disempowered that strike action seems the only way to highlight the severity of the situation, and the challenge to patient safety.

Nurses continue to be the backbone of our workforce, as the highest numbers of staff supporting older people, both in hospital and at home.  With calculated 1 in 10 nursing posts vacant with a shortfall of 39,000.  We need to work on recruitment, training and retention as best we can. We have data for staffing numbers on the wards, but community safe staffing levels are still being agreed and tested.

On Nurses Day, take time to reflect on our amazing nursing workforce. Take time to celebrate the small gains we each make in our personal approach to our patients and find some way to thank each other for the outstanding contribution we make, and I hope I get to thank many of you in person at the BGS Spring Meeting 2023, 17-19 May in Edinburgh and Online.