There were only 1446 positions for nursing advertised on the NHS website through
the week just gone whereas a year ago at the same time there were 2389, this is a worrying figure for those working in nursing.
The figures along with new data recorded by the NHS information centre caused worry that the NHS are headed towards a vacancy freeze. There is also concerns that the NHS will begin not replacing nurses and cut salary's on advertised jobs.
Head of employment relations Josie Irwin, has stated that freezing posts is a short term solution and that instead the NHS should look at a more long term plan. : "We have seen responses to financial crises come and go and posts get mothballed. That puts a strain on everybody else and leads to issues with spiralling workloads and work related stress. The work doesn't go away."
The Professor of health and social sciences at Queen Margaret University, James Buchan has said that a mix of nurses and healthcare assistant type roles within wards may help the situation.
In an interview with Nursing Times he said "The long term growth in the NHS has peaked and we are beginning to see some skill mix changes as a result of that."
Buchan also thinks that the lower number of available positions could be due to nurses staying in their roles because of the tempestuous job market.
Head of Unison's nursing sector Gail Adams has estimated that the fall in vacancies will affect the job situations of around 15,000 newly qualified nurses. There is a big shortage in vacancies to deal with.
The figures were released by the NHS Information Centre and highlighted the drop in nursing posts available. Statistics from March told of how vacancies dropped from 3.1% to 2.5% from the same period last year.
Despite the fall in vacancies the figures showed that the number of unfilled posts in midwifery went up, which shows the shortage of midwives. In March 255 midwife vacancies were advertised and vacant for over three months whereas last March there were just 191.