Growing old and tired?

Alison While

Buchanan et al (2020) noted that 17% of the global nursing workforce is over 55 years of age and are likely to retire within the next 10 years. The demography of the UK community nursing workforce is significantly more aged than the global nursing workforce, with 60% aged over 45 years, and 17% of those aged 50 years and older reported that they planned to retire in the next 1–4 years during an online survey (n=2858) conducted between 1 June and 18 July, 2019 (Queen's Nursing Institute (QNI), 2019). The COVID-19 pandemic has stretched and stressed the workforce through increased workload pressure arising from growing caseload numbers, increased patient acuity and reduced workforce numbers (Green, 2021). Green had (2021) made the case for more investment in district nursing services to remedy these issues.