FEARS for nursing numbers have been raised by the Royal College of Nursing due to issues around pay but a former educator has said that recruitment is not such a cut and dry issue.

England director at the Royal College of Nursing, Mike Adams made headlines recently, expressing concerns about a potential shortage of nurses due to wages trending downwards over time.

He told the press on Wednesday: “We are pointing to the fact that nursing is a safety critical profession.”

Mr Adams said: “People are at risk if there aren’t enough people and this is about how much do we as a society and this Government value the expertise, the responsibility and the need for having the right amount of expertise and people at the right place at the right time.”

The Royal College of Nursing is a union for the nursing profession as opposed to an academic organisation.

Carlisle based retired nurses lecturer and former A&E volunteer Dr John Campbell said: “Nursing numbers are multi-factorial, that’s going to include the public image of the profession, it’s going to include the quality of the education, the governance of education, the quality and fairness of assessment, integration on multi-disciplinary schemes.

“All of those things are going to influence a young person’s decision.

He said: “There are elements of all of those things that could be improved.”

Dr Campbell said that the student nursing environment used to involve almost parental figures providing pastoral care to young people who were studying a demanding course away from home.

There were opportunities to get involved in clubs and activities.

“There was a culture, a community. In nursing all of those things have been lost and that is a great pity.

“Now they say ‘you’re an adult, go and get on with it. There’s no community duty of care. I’m not saying that remuneration isn’t an issue.”

Dr Campbell said that using the example of a father and daughter deciding on her next steps: “To go into a culture where she’s going to be looked after, that’s got to be a major factor in the decision making process.”

He said: “It’s a culture issue, the culture has changed and not for the better.”