Responding to new analysis from the Liberal Democrats, which shows nearly 15,000 children’s operations were cancelled at hospitals in England last year in part due to bed and staff shortages, RCN Director for England, Patricia Marquis, said:
"When 15,000 children’s operations are cancelled in a single year due to a shortage of staff and beds – and some children are left waiting over three years for an operation – then it really does throw a stark light on the dangerous state of our NHS.
“Each cancellation will have brought stress and anxiety for children, their parents and carers across the country – as well as the nursing staff caring for them. Every day nurses are being put in impossible situations while they struggle to care for patients, including children facing life threatening conditions, without enough staff.
“We urgently need the long-promised workforce plan to recruit and retain the nursing staff needed for safe patient care. Only then will we begin to fix the crisis that is engulfing our NHS and give people the care they need and deserve.”
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