The Royal College of Nursing has expressed concerns that trusts across the country are asking senior nurses with specialist skills to go back to the wards as nursing auxiliaries to ease recruitment and financial problems.
Last week it was announced that University Hospitals of Leicester trust director of nursing Pauline Tagg will work as a nursing auxiliary for one day a week, carrying out basic nursing duties wherever she is needed across the city's three hospitals.
As a temporary measure, around 200 trust employees, including senior nurses working in educational or specialist roles, have also been asked to volunteer to go back to basic nursing for one day a week as part of a package of measures to save£15m. The trust is banning the use of non-essential overtime and bank staff until the end of March 2007.
RCN head of policy Howard Catton says the college has been contacted by senior nurses from a number of trusts across England that are adopting similar plans.
'This is the first time we have heard a nurse at director level going back to hands-on nursing but we have had a number of examples of senior nurses and specialists being asked to do the work of a band-five or band-six nurse.
'Apart from being very poor value for money, it seems that these measures are being used because of a ban on bank and agency staff who were being used to cover for frozen staff posts. This sort of backfilling just puts additional pressure on nursing staff.'
Leicester's foundation trust membership manager Andrea Clark, who trained as a nurse and worked as sister in outpatients and on clinical wards, plans to work one shift a week initially as a nursing auxiliary.
She told HSJshe rejected the RCN's concerns: 'You come into the NHS because you want to look after people and in this situation it's about teamwork and pulling together.'
Mrs Clark recently completed a return-to-nursing course and says she feels competent to handle a return to hands-on nursing. 'I am initially going back as a nursing auxiliary to feel my feet, but I also have the option of working as a D-grade staff nurse.'
In a statement, Pauline Tagg said the trust was delighted that all staff, ranging from senior managers to administration staff, had offered to go on to the wards to help patients with their meals, 'to take the pressure off nursing staff at these busy times of day'.
She added: 'It demonstrates that although we're going to have a tough few months, with the task of saving an extra£15m to help Leicester's health economy, staff at our hospitals are willing to work even harder and help each other out - committed to ensuring that patient care and patient safety are not compromised.'
A non-board level nursing director would come under the Agenda for Changeband nine, earning between£69,899 and£88,397 a year. A nursing auxiliary would be in band three and would normally expect to take home between£14,037 and£16,799.
NHS Confederation chief executive Dr Gill Morgan described the initiative taking place in Leicester as 'good management' and welcomed the fact that trusts were 'finding creative solutions to saving money whilst continuing to provide high levels of patient care'.
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