RCN demands top table role for nurses in primary care shake-up

摘要

Nurses must have a place on GP consortia boards, the RCN said this week in its response to government proposals for an overhaul of the NHS. The call is one of 18 demands set out by the college in response to the Department of Health's white paper, Liberating the NHS. The policy paper, published in July, sets out plans to scrap strategic health authorities (SHAs) and primary care trusts (PCTs) and hand control of around ? billion of health spending to GPs. RCN general secretary Peter Carter said that it was a 'huge omission' not to give nurses an automatic place on consortia boards. 'Nurses are vital to the development and provision of services, but the visibility of nurses in the white paper is very low- they are virtually absent,' he said. Just one in five nurses believe the proposals will result in better care for patients, a survey of more than 1,000 RCN members found.