This is why my wife left the NHS. Freshly qualified nurse in Ayrshire central hospital given a 3 hr handover on her first shift and told to get on with it.
Now she does the PIP reports working from home earning more money. Tho she’s constantly moaning at how bad half her colleagues are as she has to fix their mistakes and negligence
Oh yes. Totally unsafe, and as nurse in charge, you remain responsible for anything that happens on the ward. You rely on having experienced, trustworthy, health care assistants who can be trusted to report problems to you, although they too are so few, and so overworked that they also may not pick up on things.As the registered nurse, you are the only one who can undertake certain clinical duties, whilst trying to manage the ward. For some things, you may be legally obliged to get another registered nurse to check things, but good luck as that means leaving another ward without cover, meanwhile, the patient is waiting …possibly for pain relief, or blood … Go for a quick cup of tea in the office, and even though you have not had any of your official ( unpaid) break time, you are sure to be interrupted, and, in any case, anything that happens on the ward in that time, you will carry the can for, and spend hours after you should have gone home from your twelve hour shift, doing online incident reports. Do this, day in, day out …answer the phone, do doctor’s rounds, speak to anxious relatives , ( always on the ward, due to open visiting ), and try to proritize care. The sickest patients will take my time, but this means that others don’t get a look in, and yet things may be happening with them that could prove serious. Most wards are between 28-32 beds. Go home shattered, and hope you haven’t forgotten anything, as you have been distracted and interrupted all day. Any mistake may see you having to account for your error, and for a minor omission, you may escape by being obliged to write a self-criticism, in which you have to defend yourself by pointing to pitiful staffing levels, at which point you will be reminded that you need to learn to manage your time. I could go on, and on …
Was talking to my elderly aunt today. She retold a story about an elderly acquaintance, in hospital, who each day saw other elderly patients on the ward, who had no close relatives to visit them, who sat in their own shit for hours and were seldom washed. And if they didn’t immediately eat enough of their food, it was taken away from them, there weren’t enough NHS staff to feed them.
It’s usually the nurses who get struck off if something goes wrong. Why would you want to continue to risk your career to work in this type of situation.
The secretary of state should be made accountable for understaffing.
5 comments
And this is what burn out looks like.
This is why my wife left the NHS. Freshly qualified nurse in Ayrshire central hospital given a 3 hr handover on her first shift and told to get on with it.
Now she does the PIP reports working from home earning more money. Tho she’s constantly moaning at how bad half her colleagues are as she has to fix their mistakes and negligence
Oh yes. Totally unsafe, and as nurse in charge, you remain responsible for anything that happens on the ward. You rely on having experienced, trustworthy, health care assistants who can be trusted to report problems to you, although they too are so few, and so overworked that they also may not pick up on things.As the registered nurse, you are the only one who can undertake certain clinical duties, whilst trying to manage the ward. For some things, you may be legally obliged to get another registered nurse to check things, but good luck as that means leaving another ward without cover, meanwhile, the patient is waiting …possibly for pain relief, or blood … Go for a quick cup of tea in the office, and even though you have not had any of your official ( unpaid) break time, you are sure to be interrupted, and, in any case, anything that happens on the ward in that time, you will carry the can for, and spend hours after you should have gone home from your twelve hour shift, doing online incident reports. Do this, day in, day out …answer the phone, do doctor’s rounds, speak to anxious relatives , ( always on the ward, due to open visiting ), and try to proritize care. The sickest patients will take my time, but this means that others don’t get a look in, and yet things may be happening with them that could prove serious. Most wards are between 28-32 beds. Go home shattered, and hope you haven’t forgotten anything, as you have been distracted and interrupted all day. Any mistake may see you having to account for your error, and for a minor omission, you may escape by being obliged to write a self-criticism, in which you have to defend yourself by pointing to pitiful staffing levels, at which point you will be reminded that you need to learn to manage your time. I could go on, and on …
Was talking to my elderly aunt today. She retold a story about an elderly acquaintance, in hospital, who each day saw other elderly patients on the ward, who had no close relatives to visit them, who sat in their own shit for hours and were seldom washed. And if they didn’t immediately eat enough of their food, it was taken away from them, there weren’t enough NHS staff to feed them.
It’s usually the nurses who get struck off if something goes wrong. Why would you want to continue to risk your career to work in this type of situation.
The secretary of state should be made accountable for understaffing.