Nurses think NHS cash has been wasted

Half of nurses questioned for a survey think extra cash invested in the NHS has gone on more managers and expensive agency staff.

And three quarters called for more permanent nursing staff. Most nurses working in cancer care think patients have seen improvements but their colleagues in other areas are not convinced.

The research, carried out by Mori, is thought to be the biggest ever poll of nurses on the effects of investment in the NHS and is being presented today at the Royal College of Nursing congress in Harrogate.

Half of the 1,014 nurses questioned agreed that patients' experiences in the NHS had improved over the past four years, with reduced waiting times cited as the top improvement.

But opinion was divided on the future of the NHS, with a third saying it will get better and a third believing it will get worse.