After seeing this I decided another article was necessary. The problem with the Mirror's figures is that they made the same mistakes as Shaun Lintern as described here, essentially they do not take year by year comparative figures, quoting May 2010 figures and comparing them to August 2014 figures distort the figures. However the general premise of the Mirror article is correct.
First of all I want to look at the Acute, Elderly and General Nursing
I have removed 1st level nursing from this graph as its difficult to plot while allowing you to see the trends for the minority, but highly skilled nurses, as will be demonstrated later.
This graph shows that the total number of nurses in these categories have decreased.
Modern Matron
August 2010 /11 = 35,418
August 2011/12 = 33,031 down 2,387
August 2012/13 = 31,320 down 1,711
August 2013/14 = 30,498 down 822
Ending August 2014 with a decrease of 4,920 from 2010
Managers
August 2010 /11 = 43,019
August 2011/12 = 30,031 down 12,988
August 2012/13 = 39,518 up 9,487
August 2013/14 = 42,248 up 2,730
Ending August 2014 with a decrease of 771 from 2010
Children's Nurse
August 2010/11 = 4,325
August 2011/12 = 7840 up 3,515
August 2012/13 = 3,335 down 4,505
August 2013/14 = 3,438 up 103
Ending August 2014 with a decrease of 887 from 2010
Other 2nd Level > Bands 6-8
August 2010/11 = 28,069
August 2011/12 = 24,408 down 3,661
August 2012/13 = 23,525 down 883
August 2013/14 = 19,851 down 3,674
Ending August 2014 with a decrease of 8,218 from 2010
Which gives a total decrease of senior nurses by 14,796 since 2010
Looking at Level 1 nurses - now we know from HSCIC that these also include bands below band 5 (qualified nurse) and therefore this is an area of contention for me as not all in this category are qualified nurses. However when I put these into the graph it is plain to see that the Mirror's article is highlighting the problems this creates as "senior nurses play a vital role in patients safety". Don't think many would disagree with Andy Burnham when he states “Nurse losses on this scale risk threatening standards of patient care. Half of nurses say their ward is dangerously understaffed as hospitals shed experienced nurses in a crude attempt to save money".
You can see quite clearly that the lower nursing grades overshadow the more qualified nursing grades. There is only 1 senior nurse (2nd Level) to every 78 junior nurses (1st Level).
In other disciplines we see a similar pattern with more staff losses:
Maternity
The total decrease of these categories from 2010-2014 is 3328
Paediatrics
The total decrease of these categories from 2010-2014 is 378
Other Psychiatry
The total decrease of these categories from 2010-2014 is 2982
Community Psychiatry lost a total of 690 nurses between 2010-2014
I have no idea where the Mirror got its figures from; "Britain’s total nursing staff plummeted alarmingly from 280,765 in June to 278,924 in August, according to the latest official figures"
According to the HSCIC there were 313,752 nurses in June compared with 311,670 in August so the total number of nurses lost in that period is 2,082.
So the points made by the Mirror and Andy Burnham are valid. Jeremy Hunt claims that the article is misleading and that the number of nurses falling is due to "seasonal variation" and that there is always a temporary dip in the summer months. It appears that the "summer months" in England start in April.
Dont you just love politicians.