There seems to be some confusion over the word 'nurses'. Some reports referto registered nurses or qualified nurses, but others just report'nurses' and, reading between the lines, they seem to be referring to healthcare assistants (HCAs).I have no wish to imply that HCAs do not provide good care, but when people see the word 'nurse' they generally take itto mean a registered nurse. We could do with some clarity on this issue.I thinkthe prime minister must mean that patients will be seen by a member of the care team. But if he is referring to registered nurses, where will they come from?We have already lost so many trained nurses and the remaining ones are terribly overstretched.There are not enough nurses on the wards to undertake hourly patient rounds, no matter how much they would like to carry them out.
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