Royal College of Nursing Employment Survey 2017

This report presents the findings from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Employment Survey 2017, conducted by IES.

The nursing workforce in 2017 is under a number of pressures, both from the demand side but also the supply side and the findings of this survey paint a picture of how these pressures are impacting nursing staff.

Amongst the reports findings are details of how nursing staff do not feel able to provide the level of care that they would like, grappling with short-staffing, abuse and low morale in their workplace.

The survey was conducted online and achieved 7,720 usable responses. The respondent profile was sufficiently similar to the RCN membership that it can be said to be representative of the membership as a whole.

The survey questions were structured around five key areas, which also serve as a structure for this report. These areas are:

• staffing levels and workload;
• abuse, harassment and bullying;
• pay and grading;
• income and additional work/hours; and
• career satisfaction, development and progression.

Throughout the report, the term ‘nursing staff’ is used to refer to the variety of different nursing roles that are represented in the RCN membership. Where the findings relate to registered nurses only (for example, on pay bands in the NHS), the term ‘nurses’ is used.