More than 60,000 frontline jobs in the NHS are at risk of being axed because of spending cuts, according to a report.
The report from the Royal College of Nursing said community nurses were among those facing cuts, which meant that government plans to move care from acute hospitals to community sites were a "facade".
The RCN said planned job cuts included more than 400 in Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
In total, it claimed 61,000 posts across the UK were at risk of being slashed, with 26,000 already lost in the two years to April.
The loss of so many jobs showed the "weakness" of government pledges to protect the front line, said the RCN ahead of its annual conference this week.
Community services, covering district and mental health nurses and those who visit patients in their own homes, were being "overburdened", said the RCN.
Cuts and underinvestment risked a "revolving door" for patients, who are discharged from hospital only to find there is no support in the community so have to be readmitted to hospital, it was warned.
Fewer than one in ten of 2600 community nurses polled by the RCN said they had enough time to meet the needs of their patients, while nine out of ten revealed that their caseload had increased in the past year.
Dr Peter Carter, general secretary of the RCN, said: "Yet again, and despite numerous warnings, NHS organisations are making short-sighted cuts across the UK.
"Nurses are being stretched too thin, and many are approaching breaking point. Inevitably, patient care is going to suffer.
"We are now seeing a clear and worrying picture of a health service which is struggling. It is struggling to keep people out of hospital because of pressures on the community, and it is struggling to discharge them with support when they leave. Very soon, patients will be left with nowhere to turn."
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