Third of social care nurses ready to quit, reveals RCN

One in three social care nurses are considering leaving the profession because they feel exhausted, undervalued and under pressure, a Royal College of Nursing (RCN) survey has revealed.

The nursing union surveyed over 1,000 RCN members working in adult social care to explore issues related to funding, workforce pressures, integration and reforms.

They found that one in three (34%) are considering leaving or are already actively planning to leave their jobs.

Of those, two-thirds (66%) said this was because they felt undervalued, while 59% said it was because they felt under pressure, and 54% cited feeling exhausted.

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Nearly half (45%) of those who were actively planning to leave said they were considering a job outside of nursing.

Now, the RCN is calling on UK Governments to take ‘vital steps’ to reform commissioning and funding arrangements for social care to ‘ensure they allow for services to meet future needs’.

The call includes actions to address registered nurse shortages and for better pay, terms and conditions.

RCN general secretary and chief executive Professor Nicola Ranger said there needs to be a ‘new urgency’ to address the ‘crisis in social care’.

‘Everywhere you look, the lack of political leadership has left the sector neglected, and its workforce depleted and exhausted,’ she said.

‘As a result, the needs of vulnerable people are going unmet, with staff caring for a totally unsafe number of people. That is dangerous and a tragedy.’

RCN social care nurse members were also asked about ‘attracting others to join the profession’, but more than a third (38%) reported that pay and terms and conditions did ‘not compare well with other sectors’ and 36% said that social care ‘carried negative perceptions’.

One nurse said: ‘Due to the high level of responsibility and accountability, we’re not paid properly for the job we do.

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‘Sometimes [I am the] only nurse for 74 to 80 residents.’

Another added: ‘I am the only nurse in the building on a day shift for 39 residents. I have to work autonomously… all decisions regarding care are mine, as is accountability.’

Professor Ranger added: ‘It’s also incredibly worrying we’ve seen such a fall in the number of registered nurses in the sector.

‘These highly skilled clinicians are crucial to delivering safe and effective care to people with complex needs.

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‘At the heart of this is a workforce that hasn’t been given the value it deserves. With an ageing population, the scale of the challenge for governments across the UK has never been clearer.

‘We need new long-term investment and a plan to build a strong nursing workforce, with swift action across the board to improve pay, terms and conditions.’

The survey comes as the annual RCN Congress took place in Liverpool this week, with nurses voting for RCN council to act upon attempts to ‘undermine’ advanced nursing practice, to tackle misinformation, protect nursing education, and create a programme to help build the confidence of nursing staff in addressing racism.