Kingston hospital’s decision to freeze front-line nursing posts will hit patient care hard as well as adding to the burden on existing over-stretched staff, said UNISON nurses at the hospital yesterday. The nurses condemned moves to cut the number of nurses on wards as part of a jobs freeze at the hospital, saying that it flies in the face of pledges to protect front-line NHS staff. The Trust management have stated that they will not replace nurses who leave unless they are “critical”.
Michael Walker, Nursing officer for UNISON slammed the proposed cuts as “putting patient care at risk” saying:
“It is outrageous that overworked nurses are being expected to cover for nursing posts that are not filled. UNISON believes that the cuts will put lives and patient care at risk. The Coalition Government told us that they would not cut front line services, and yet at Kingston - Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s local hospital - this is exactly what we are witnessing - nurses are very much frontline service”.
Nora Pearce, UNISON Nursing & Midwifery Convenor at the hospital said:
“The NHS has a very high turnover of nursing posts; nurses cannot simply be expected to pick up the work of posts no longer filled without compromising the care we provide.
“I urge those implementing the cuts to take serious consideration of our concerns and reverse this decision”
