Nursing degree apprenticeship plan ‘does not go far enough’ While funding to increase apprenticeships to 2000 per year is welcome, the Government must do more to achieve the 50,000 new nursing staff promised by the Prime Minister, the Royal College of Nursing has said COVID-19: Virus continues to decline The UK’s largest testing programme for coronavirus has shown that the virus continued to decline in June First online RCN Annual General Meeting held The first online Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the RCN was held on 6 August, with almost 800 members discussing key issues affecting the nursing workforce Roll-out of two new tests for COVID-19 ahead of winter Millions of new rapid coronavirus tests will be rolled out across NHS hospitals, care homes and labs in preparation for the coming winter 1 comment Recruitment drive to tackle loneliness and improve lives The NHS is recruiting social prescribing link workers to combat loneliness and isolation fuelled by coronavirus Health and care workers to self-isolate on return to UK from high-risk countries Registered health and care professionals travelling to the UK from high-risk countries will be required to self-isolate for 14 days, the government has announced ‘Devastating impact’ of pandemic on social care The government has ‘acted too slowly and did not do enough to support social care users and staff’, according to new analysis from the Health Foundation Public backs early pay rise for nurses Two in five people in the UK back an immediate pay rise for NHS staff, while over two thirds are supportive of a pay rise happening this calendar year, a new poll has found New obesity strategy unveiled to tackle coronavirus A new package of measures and a 'Better Health' campaign have been announced to help people lose weight amid the COVID-19 pandemic ‘Most comprehensive flu programme ever’ to be rolled out this winter Providers will work to vaccinate more than 30 million people during this flu season – millions more than received it last year, the Department of Health and Social Care has announced Nurse numbers continue to rise There are over 10,000 more nurses working In the NHS than last year, new workforce statistics show Government must invest in nursing students to fix workforce crisis A new report from the Royal College of Nursing demonstrates the urgent need for investment in nursing students 1 comment Pay discussions should be brought forward, say unions Negotiations over renumeration should be brought forward so that pay deals due to expire in 2021 can be replaced with a pay rise sooner, healthcare unions have said. 2 comments Turning compassion inwards During a time of crisis, Nicola Davies looks at how nurses can take care of their own mental health Sharp increase in staff thinking of leaving nursing There has been a notable rise in the proportion of nursing staff considering quitting the profession, driven primarily by concerns about pay, research from the Royal College of Nursing has found 3 comments RCN Awards 2020 recipients announced Dr Peter Carter, former chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, and Dr Crystal Oldman, chief executive of the Queen’s Nursing Institute, have been named as fellows of the RCN in the organisation’s annual awards Coronavirus: ‘Significant reduction’ before lockdown eased The rate of COVID-19 infection halved every 8 to 9 days during May, research from Imperial College London has suggested Smoking: Over one million quit since start of pandemic Smokers are quitting in highest numbers in a decade since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a survey by Action on Smoking and Health has found NHS employs record number of nurses and midwives Applicants to nursing courses in England have risen by 16%, as a record number of nurses and midwives are employed in the NHS, figures from the Nursing and Midwifery Council show COVID-19: Over 95% of tests return next day Approximately 97.5% of in person tests for coronavirus are returned the day after the test is taken, statistics released by NHS England have shown Independent Nurse and British Journal of Nursing launch #SupportingNurses campaign A new campaign to show appreciation for the heroes and heroines who have been in the front line of the fight against COVID-19 has been launched by the Mark Allen Group, the UK’s leading publisher of nursing content Increase in use of electronic prescriptions during COVID-19 pandemic More than 85% of primary care prescriptions in England are now processed electronically, after a rise in use of the service during the coronavirus pandemic NHS Test and Trace figures ‘not good enough to maintain safety’ The NHS Confederation says that not only are 1 in 4 people transferred to the system not being reached, but, out of those contacted, a quarter of their close contacts are not being reached as well Safety concerns prevent parents from vaccinating their children, survey finds The majority (73%) of parents were happy for their children to receive vaccinations during the COVID-19 outbreak. However, just 27% of parents are now comfortable taking their child to a medical centre for vaccinations – down from 91% pre-pandemic Cystic fibrosis: Patients to be offered 'life-transforming' treatment A new ‘truly life-transforming’ treatment for cystic fibrosis will be available to patients on the NHS, Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, has announced
Nursing degree apprenticeship plan ‘does not go far enough’ While funding to increase apprenticeships to 2000 per year is welcome, the Government must do more to achieve the 50,000 new nursing staff promised by the Prime Minister, the Royal College of Nursing has said
COVID-19: Virus continues to decline The UK’s largest testing programme for coronavirus has shown that the virus continued to decline in June
First online RCN Annual General Meeting held The first online Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the RCN was held on 6 August, with almost 800 members discussing key issues affecting the nursing workforce
Roll-out of two new tests for COVID-19 ahead of winter Millions of new rapid coronavirus tests will be rolled out across NHS hospitals, care homes and labs in preparation for the coming winter 1 comment
Recruitment drive to tackle loneliness and improve lives The NHS is recruiting social prescribing link workers to combat loneliness and isolation fuelled by coronavirus
Health and care workers to self-isolate on return to UK from high-risk countries Registered health and care professionals travelling to the UK from high-risk countries will be required to self-isolate for 14 days, the government has announced
‘Devastating impact’ of pandemic on social care The government has ‘acted too slowly and did not do enough to support social care users and staff’, according to new analysis from the Health Foundation
Public backs early pay rise for nurses Two in five people in the UK back an immediate pay rise for NHS staff, while over two thirds are supportive of a pay rise happening this calendar year, a new poll has found
New obesity strategy unveiled to tackle coronavirus A new package of measures and a 'Better Health' campaign have been announced to help people lose weight amid the COVID-19 pandemic
‘Most comprehensive flu programme ever’ to be rolled out this winter Providers will work to vaccinate more than 30 million people during this flu season – millions more than received it last year, the Department of Health and Social Care has announced
Nurse numbers continue to rise There are over 10,000 more nurses working In the NHS than last year, new workforce statistics show
Government must invest in nursing students to fix workforce crisis A new report from the Royal College of Nursing demonstrates the urgent need for investment in nursing students 1 comment
Pay discussions should be brought forward, say unions Negotiations over renumeration should be brought forward so that pay deals due to expire in 2021 can be replaced with a pay rise sooner, healthcare unions have said. 2 comments
Turning compassion inwards During a time of crisis, Nicola Davies looks at how nurses can take care of their own mental health
Sharp increase in staff thinking of leaving nursing There has been a notable rise in the proportion of nursing staff considering quitting the profession, driven primarily by concerns about pay, research from the Royal College of Nursing has found 3 comments
RCN Awards 2020 recipients announced Dr Peter Carter, former chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, and Dr Crystal Oldman, chief executive of the Queen’s Nursing Institute, have been named as fellows of the RCN in the organisation’s annual awards
Coronavirus: ‘Significant reduction’ before lockdown eased The rate of COVID-19 infection halved every 8 to 9 days during May, research from Imperial College London has suggested
Smoking: Over one million quit since start of pandemic Smokers are quitting in highest numbers in a decade since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a survey by Action on Smoking and Health has found
NHS employs record number of nurses and midwives Applicants to nursing courses in England have risen by 16%, as a record number of nurses and midwives are employed in the NHS, figures from the Nursing and Midwifery Council show
COVID-19: Over 95% of tests return next day Approximately 97.5% of in person tests for coronavirus are returned the day after the test is taken, statistics released by NHS England have shown
Independent Nurse and British Journal of Nursing launch #SupportingNurses campaign A new campaign to show appreciation for the heroes and heroines who have been in the front line of the fight against COVID-19 has been launched by the Mark Allen Group, the UK’s leading publisher of nursing content
Increase in use of electronic prescriptions during COVID-19 pandemic More than 85% of primary care prescriptions in England are now processed electronically, after a rise in use of the service during the coronavirus pandemic
NHS Test and Trace figures ‘not good enough to maintain safety’ The NHS Confederation says that not only are 1 in 4 people transferred to the system not being reached, but, out of those contacted, a quarter of their close contacts are not being reached as well
Safety concerns prevent parents from vaccinating their children, survey finds The majority (73%) of parents were happy for their children to receive vaccinations during the COVID-19 outbreak. However, just 27% of parents are now comfortable taking their child to a medical centre for vaccinations – down from 91% pre-pandemic
Cystic fibrosis: Patients to be offered 'life-transforming' treatment A new ‘truly life-transforming’ treatment for cystic fibrosis will be available to patients on the NHS, Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, has announced
Preparing for the next pandemic We take a look back to a piece we published in August 2019 on the prospect of a ...
Important notice to subscribers Need to have your copy of Independent Nurse redirected to your home address during ...
Home improvements reduce the number of hospital visits for patients Improving social housing could considerably reduce the number of emergency hospital ...