Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

NHSLatest NewsTrade unionsRecruitment & retentionQualifications

Nurses recruited without correct qualifications, union alleges

by Ashleigh Webber 9 Jun 2021
by Ashleigh Webber 9 Jun 2021 Eric Johnson Photography / Shutterstock.com
Eric Johnson Photography / Shutterstock.com

A growing number of people without the right qualifications are being recruited for registered nursing roles, the Royal College of Nursing has warned.

It found examples of where health and social care employers had formally opened registered nurse vacancies to people without registered nursing qualifications, or to people with different professional backgrounds, such as physiotherapy and occupational therapy. This could present a risk to patient safety, it said.

Such job adverts often come with the caveat that the successful candidate registers with the Nursing and Midwifery Council or the Health and Care Professionals Council once they have begun their role.

Pat Cullen, RCN acting general secretary and chief executive, said: “Acting in this way not only leads to vacancies elsewhere but also carries a risk to patient care,” she said. “The very fact that employers are needing to fill nursing posts in this way should set alarm bells ringing with ministers that cannot be ignored and spur them into a proper investment in the long-term future of the nursing workforce.”

The RCN gave an example of a recent advert for a matron – a senior nursing role – responsible for older people’s mental health and learning disability services, which was open to a “registered professional clinician with demonstrable evidence of working at senior level”. It did not say it required NMC registration.

Staffing in the NHS

NHS staff shortages ‘biggest driver of burnout’

Exclusive: NHS pay, culture and resourcing – Jeremy Hunt talks to Oven-Ready HR

Nursing numbers boosted by ‘Nightingale effect’

Another advert for an NHS band 5 staff nurse required the successful applicant to be an “RGN/RN [registered general nurse] or hold an equivalent allied health professional qualification”.

Rachel Hollis, chair of the RCN’s professional nursing committee said that all employers in health and social care should only open registered nursing roles up to registered nursing applicants only.

“We respect and value the role of all health care professionals in the multidisciplinary team, but we believe that only registered nurses, and our nursing support worker colleagues, can deliver safe and effective nursing care,” she said.

We respect and value the role of all health care professionals in the multidisciplinary team, but we believe that only registered nurses, and our nursing support worker colleagues, can deliver safe and effective nursing care” – Rachel Hollis, RCN

In response to the union’s claims, Geraldine Walters, director of professional practice at the Nursing and Midwifery Council, said: “At a time when high vacancy and turnover rates exist right across health and social care, our registered nursing professionals are critical in providing good, safe and effective care for everyone.

“We only have to look at our latest figures, showing 2,600 more nursing associates have joined our register over the last year alone, to see just how much of a growing and vital role this is in supporting the work of registered nurses.

“However, supporting does not mean substituting them inappropriately. Registered nurses have undergone a three-year training [course] and are proficient to assess, lead and plan person-centred care for people. Nursing associates have undergone a two-year training [course] and their knowledge and skills proficiencies are commensurate with that.

“It’s absolutely up to employers to make sure they understand the differences and that they have the right skill mix in their health care settings to ensure safe, high quality care.”

The 2013 Francis report into failings at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust between 2005 and 2009 highlighted that patient safety was at risk when the right nursing care and leadership was not in place.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Last month, NHS England revealed that more than 11,000 nurses, midwives and health visitors have joined the health service since the pandemic began, with overall staff numbers up 3.5% in the year to January 2021.

HR opportunities in Healthcare on Personnel Today

Browse more HR opportunities in healthcare

Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is a former editor of OHW+ and former HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support.

previous post
Staff who view managers as ‘ethical’ likely to challenge wrongdoing
next post
Rolls-Royce appoints first female chair

You may also like

RCN warns Darlington NHS trust over single-sex spaces

16 May 2025

NHS Scotland staff accept two-year 8.2% pay deal

16 May 2025

Healthcare workers prioritise mental health support in new...

12 May 2025

Nurses threaten strikes if pay demands not met

12 May 2025

Jobs on the line across NHS trusts in...

9 May 2025

NHS worker awarded £29k after Darth Vader comparison

8 May 2025

Resident doctors to ballot for strike action

2 May 2025

NHS Lothian review finds ‘toxic’ work environment

2 May 2025

Public sector staff could be in line for...

28 Apr 2025

Call for better mental health support for NHS...

17 Apr 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+