THE axe is falling on specialist nurses as their high salaries attract the eye of trust managers keen to cut costs.

Nursing Times (May 23) says that there are more specialist nurses than ever before but they are in a vulnerable position as financial deficits in the NHS continue to grow. Some face redundancy while others are being forced to return to general nursing roles, which pay less.

The number of specialists has been growing rapidly since the Government decided that nurses should be given extra responsibility for assessing, diagnosing and treating patients. And while unions are angry that specialist nurses are under threat, some experts say that it is no bad thing to slow the growth of their members.

Part of the problem is confusion about what defines a “specialist nurse”. George Castledine, a professor of nursing, says: “A lot of nurse specialists do not work as hard I would expect them to and some are really not meeting the criteria of a true specialist.”

But that has not deterred the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) from trying to calculate their cost effectiveness.

Nursing Standard (May 24) says that the college wants to use financial modelling to protect specialist nurses from redundancy. A specialist diabetes nurse has reportedly saved a primary care trust £77,000 by cutting hospital admissions.

Beverly Malone, the general secretary of the RCN, says: “If we can show financially how specialist nurses make a difference, we will have a case proving that it is a poor decision to lose them.”

Now Healthcare assistants (HCAs) are also being squeezed, according to Nursing Times. It says that cash-strapped trusts are refusing to help HCAs train as nurses, even though Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, said that they should be supported to pursue nursing careers.

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