Commenting on Nursing under unsustainable pressures: staffing for safe and effective care in the UK, by the Royal College of Nursing, the interim chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery said:

"We welcome this report which lays bare the environment that nurses, and more widely NHS staff, work in.

"It is particularly concerning to see that only a quarter of shifts had the full number of planned registered nurses available, and the majority of respondents said they are missing breaks and working unpaid overtime, with this finding being particularly emphasised among ethnic minority staff.

"The report also captures the cascading impact staff shortages has on the quality of care patients receive. It is striking that 62% of respondents felt the care they provided in their last shift was compromised by staff shortages – a figure which is continuing to worsen each year.

"The top priority for trusts leaders is the wellbeing of their staff and patients. But while locally trusts are doing all they can to support their workforce, their efforts are being directly hampered by the lack of national-level intervention. That's why we at NHS Providers have been urgently calling for a fully costed and funded national workforce plan.

"It was disappointing that the government didn't act on the pleas from the coalition of over 100 health and care organisations, of which we were a member, on the workforce planning amendment to the Health and Care Bill that recently received Royal Assent. It missed an opportunity to make a real difference.

"We support this report's call for increased funding for continued professional development and training, as well as opportunities for career progression. We also strongly support an uplift in staff pay, particularly given the cost of living crisis, but this must be appropriately funded by government, not taken from existing NHS budgets.

"We look forward to soon seeing the detail of Health Education England's review of Framework 15 and the health and social care secretary's review of workforce planning due in the autumn, and how these will address staff shortages."