Student nurses put in sole charge of patients

Patients are being put at risk by being left under the sole charge of student nurses who do not have the training to deal with emergencies when they arise, a survey shows.

More than one in three student nurses has been left in charge of patients in the absence of registered nurses or doctors and one in 10 took charge on more than five occasions. More than a quarter of first-year students have been given sole charge of patients.

The survey of 1,000 student nurses, commissioned by the Royal College of Nursing, was released on the eve of its annual congress in Harrogate. Sylvia Denton, RCN president, said: "Students on clinical placements should never be left alone in charge of patients." The finding demonstrates the pressures on the NHS despite the recruitment of an extra 20,000 nurses in the past four years.

The RCN is to debate closure of care homes, pensions, obesity, the Government's sexual health strategy and how to attract more men into the profession. Beverly Malone, the general secretary, will tell the congress that the college will press for improved terms and conditions after the RCN voted overwhelmingly to accept the Agenda for Change pay deal worth an average 15.8 per cent over three years.