Student nurses 'in charge of wards'

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Most of those left unsupervised on wards are worried about reporting the issue in case it affects their marks, it said.

The RCN's general secretary, Dr Peter Carter, blamed the NHS deficits crisis and warned that the practice compromised patient safety.

The RCN surveyed 1,507 student nurses about their experiences during clinical placements and found that 44% had been left alone "without any warning and without a registered doctor or nurse present".

Of those, 93% said it had happened more than once and 81% said they had been left unsupervised in charge of patients on three or more occasions.

A total of 553 first-year students were surveyed, of whom 42% said they had been left on their own.

More than one in 10 (15%) had witnessed "adverse events" while left in charge, such as a patient taking a severe turn for the worse or a mistake being made about patient care.

Student nurses must complete 2,300 hours of clinical practice and should never be left unsupervised and the only exception would be if a nurse was close to qualifying and time alone on a ward has been pre-arranged, said the RCN.

Dr Carter said: "This is yet another example of how deficits-driven cost-cutting is compromising patient safety.

"Up and down the country, we are seeing nursing jobs being lost and posts being frozen and deleted to cut costs. That means those registered nurses left have to do ever more with even fewer resources."