Maintain pressure on reforms to protect NHSNHS begins calling on retired nurses to help tackle swine flu
The NHS has begun approaching retired doctors, nurses and other staff to work if the swine flu pandemic gets worse.
Some employers are contacting staff who left up to three years ago while others have set a limit of one year.
Five trusts asked by Nursing Times’ sister publication Health Service Journal said they had started approaching former staff, suggesting that many more trusts across the country may be taking the same action.
NHS East Sussex Downs and Weald and NHS Hastings and Rother said that together they had sent letters about helping to tackle the swine flu pandemic to 60 people who had retired in the past year, and received 10 agreements.
North Somerset PCT has 23 agreements from nursing and administrative staff who retired within the past two years. Brent PCT has approached 55 retirees from the past three years and has had 15 agreements.
One acute trust, University Hospitals of Leicester, said it had identified around 90 clinicians, including nurses, doctors, physiotherapists and radiographers of up to two years’ retirement.
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said it was not approaching retired staff. Some employees were being trained to take on other roles. If necessary it would close elective services and transfer staff to urgent work.
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Anonymous | 8-Aug-2009 7:06 am
I retired two years ago and my NMC registration was due last year so with great sadness , because of the cost, I decided to take my name of the register. I actually shed a few tears as I filled in the form as I'd been a registered nurse for longer than I'd been anything else in my life- daughter, wife, mother etc. I thought at the time what a pity retiring nurses couldn't payretainer fee for a couple of years so that, if an emergency arose, they could be called in while they are still reasonably up to date. Incidentally it would also be nice if the NMC, after a nurse has 'deregistered' after many years of service could actually send out a letter acknowledging that fact.
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