Liz Kendall MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Care and Older People, responding to Unison’s report on over-stretched nurses and under-staffed wards, said:

“Sadly, this report is right to warn that nurses don’t have enough time with their patients. David Cameron failed to learn the lessons of the Francis Review and handed out P45s to thousands of nurses and frontline staff. 

“More than half of nurses now say their ward is dangerously understaffed, and more believe patient safety has got worse over the last year than better.

“The vast majority of NHS staff say the Government’s NHS reorganisation is harming patient care - they warned of the risks it posed to the NHS, but Ministers refused to listen. The truth is that by wasting £3 billion on a damaging reorganisation and causing a crisis in A&E, David Cameron is making care problems more likely, not less.”