Maintain pressure on reforms to protect NHSCarter warns specialist nurses are needed to tackle social problems
The RCN has called for the recruitment of more specialist and school nurses to help halt the rising rates of sexually transmitted infections and binge drinking among young people.
The UK has one of the highest rates of unwanted teenage pregnancy, teenage abortion and sexually transmitted infections in Europe. And according to the RCN, 40% more young people died of liver disease last year than in 2007 due to binge drinking.
‘Increasing the number of nursing staff will not solve every problem facing Britain today, but increasing the number of specialist and school nurses at local levels does make a difference, does help people and does matter,’ RCN general secretary Peter Carter told delegates at RCN Congress in Harrogate today.
‘To tackle these worrying problems we need more specialist nurses, more sexual health nurses and more nurses working in schools. Cutting back on these nurses will only make things far worse,’ he warned.
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