Urgent care role likely for nurses

20 July 2010 | By Amy Taylor

More nurses and fewer doctors could make up out of hours services as GP commissioners attempt to reduce costs in a tough economic climate, the Royal College of Nursing has predicted.

The white paper says GP commissioners will be responsible for developing a “coherent 24/7 urgent care service in every area of England”, which will incorporate GP out of hours services.

RCN primary care adviser Lynn Young said: “We are going to have GP consortia commissioning in a time of economic downturn. [In regards to out of hours care] It could mean more nurses and fewer doctors.”

It “made sense” for nurses to play a large role in out of hours services, she said, as long as they had access to a doctor when necessary.

This was an issue identified last week in a Care Quality Commission report on out of hours provider Take Care Now, which found five occasions in September 2009 where one nurse was the only cover for 70 miles.

Readers' comments (11)

mike | 20-Jul-2010 0:34 am
I don't think we should allow this to happen, unless we are put on par with a Doctors pay and status. If we are doing the same level of work, why should we be seen as a cheap alternative?
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Natalie Jewell | 20-Jul-2010 0:44 am
I don't think this can happen unless more Specialist Practice Nurses are trained urgently. It's not a role just any trained nurse can step into.

I'm with Mike as well, why should we yet again take on doctors roles without being recognised by pay or status? Every time nurses are treated like this they role over and accept it.
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Anonymous | 20-Jul-2010 1:03 pm
You're out of touch guys, its already in place and happening in my area.
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mike | 20-Jul-2010 2:08 pm
To an extent Anonymous | 20-Jul-2010 1:03 pm, but they are basically talking about extending it further.

One question thugh, why are you allowing yourself to be taken advantage of in this way????
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mike | 20-Jul-2010 2:09 pm
Sorry about the typo, the damn cat is trying to walk over the keyboard and is distracting me!
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Anonymous | 20-Jul-2010 6:15 pm
It's pretty obvious from previous comments on practice nurse education that practice nursing is the place where NHS nurses are put out to pasture and will accept just about anything as long as they don't have to work in a hospital or do nights. Not trained for role, not supported, isolated from the bulk of their colleagues not a surprise that they will soon be doing the large percentage of what G.P's are payed to do while the good doctors swan around in even bigger luxury vehicles (subsidized by tax breaks) as the new fat cat commissioners of the NHS.
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Alyson Davenport | 20-Jul-2010 8:15 pm
Similar happening within hospitals as they plan for reduced doctors numbers on the ward. Could be seen as exciting times if planning and training is appropriate but on the other hand could be seen as nurses being used to fill gaps. I am happy to fill a gap to a certain degree- never wanted to be a doctor but was frustrated at the lack of opportunity to progress if not going in to management-it suits me as much as it suits the Trust and best of all, within above mentioned criteria, it will improve the patient journey and experience.
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Anonymous | 21-Jul-2010 3:08 pm
I don't feel I am being taken advantage of yet in this respect. I don't deliver the urgent care myself but am training to do so and at the end of the training I will expect a band 8 for it. The reason I don't feel taken advantage of is that I don't consider myself to be a doctor as I haven't gone through medical school, therefore my scope of practice will be different and more limited. I have no illusions as to what role and responsibilities will be urged upon me, let'm try, however unless I am trained, insured and paid accordingly I will be having none of it!
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Anonymous | 21-Jul-2010 5:55 pm
This type of out of hours care by appropriately trained nurses has, to a certain extent, been taking place in Walk-in Centres throughout England since the year 2000; the very same Walk-in Centres that GP 's will apparently axe in their new commissioning role as they consider them to be ineffective and too expensive!
I can hazard a bit of an educated guess where all those experienced WiC nurses will end up then, can't you?
Bet they don't get a higher banding though - yet even at an 8 they'd be cheaper than a locum doctor.
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Martin Gray | 23-Jul-2010 10:12 pm
ANPs don't all get band 8 pay as a matter of fact, but most are on band 7. Practice nurses asre neither qualified nor experienced to take on these extensions to role, and to get them adequately and appropriately trained takes years, and I don't mean doing a 3 year degree course as that does NOT teach experience - which is the crucial element in doing the ANP role.

There are a plethora of nurses calling themselves advanced nurse practitioners or nurse practitioners that do not have either the appropriate academic accredited and recognised qualification, nor the hands on experience, due to the lack of accreditaion and regulation by the NMC. And what about insurance such as MDU, not the RCN or some other unions, or are employers going to accept vicarious liability?
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Natalie Jewell | 25-Jul-2010 1:50 pm
Martin Gray - I'd be intrigued to know what makes you think nurses are going round giving themselves fancy titles. I work on a team where we have a lot of specialist nurse practitioners and we certainly respect the Protected Title. Only those who complete the extra training are allowed to call themselves SNP.

Also, apologies for mistyping "roll" higher up the page.
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