King's Lynn hospital boss reveals 'aspiration' for school of nursing to aid recruitment
A school of nursing could be the answer to the shortage of staff at Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital – where there is currently about 190 vacancies.
That’s according to its chief executive Caroline Shaw, who said that she has an “aspiration” to bring back such an institution in Lynn.
It comes after the Royal College of Nursing launched an advertising campaign this week to encourage people to speak out about nurse shortages.
Mrs Shaw said: “The Royal College of Nursing said this week that there’s a national shortage of 40,000 nurses.
“At QEH we currently have about 190 vacancies and it’s an ambition of mine to drive down that figure so that we offer our community the best level of patient care and experience.
“It’s an aspiration of mine to bring back a school of nursing in King’s Lynn.”
Mrs Shaw said the hospital has begun the process of working out if creating a school of nursing would be viable.
The chief executive believes a school of nursing in Lynn would help recruitment and take away the need to travel to train for the role.
She said: “We are in discussion with the wider NHS and local education institutions to see if we can make it happen as soon as possible.
“Currently, people wanting to train as nurses have to travel for that.
“What I’d like to see is the ability for people to take the journey from nursing assistant to nursing associate to qualified nurse here in King’s Lynn.
“I’m of the opinion that re-establishing a nursing school in King’s Lynn would aid recruitment.”
It is not just about having the nurses train here, but also about keeping them here, too.
Mrs Shaw said: “We want to retain our nursing staff here too – I know what a wonderful place Norfolk is to live and work.”
As part of the Royal College of Nursing’s new campaign, they are urging patients and the public to sign a petition calling on the government to “fix the nursing workforce crisis in England”.
The advert says: “Nurses are the people’s people. Now we need to fight for them.”
To find out more, visit rcn.org.uk.
