‘Not enough staff in hospitals for us to work properly’

MAJORITY OF LONDON NHS WORKERS SAY THEY ARE UNDERSTAFFED, SAYS REPORT

NEARLY 80% of employees at major London Trusts feel there is not enough staff at their hospital to do their jobs properly, according to the latest NHS staff survey.

In the major annual survey published last week, results suggested workplace stress, rising rates of discrimination against staff and concerns that patients are not being listened to were all raised.

Some 67.8% of health service workers said that if a friend or relative needed treatment, they would be happy with the standard of care provided by their organisation.

This is down from almost three quarters (74.2%) in 2020, according to the 2021 report, which included responses from almost 650,000 NHS staff.

Over in London, 10 of the biggest trusts showed a huge proportion of nursing staff feel there is not enough staff to do their jobs, with huge drops since the previous survey, in March 2020. This is down from almost three quarters (74.2%) in 2020, according to the 2021 report.

It comes as a separate poll found that the public’s satisfaction with the NHS has fallen to the lowest level in quarter of a century.

In London, a huge proportion of nursing staff feel there is not enough staff to do their jobs, with huge drops since the previous survey, in March 2020.

Royal College of Nursing London operational manager and registered nurse, Mark Farmer, said: “Today’s findings reiterate what nurses have been saying for years – there simply are not enough nurses in London.

“Imagine trying to look after patients when you don’t have enough colleagues to help you. Care is being left undone and patient safety may be compromised.

“There are nearly 9,500 vacancies for NHS nurses in London – the highest anywhere in the country.

”The results of the survey show that in many health trusts in the capital the staffing crisis is getting significantly worse, not better. Nurses across the capital are exhausted, demoralised, and the results show that they feel increasingly undervalued and under strain at work.

“London hospitals are working hard to recruit and retain enough nurses to fill the gaps but years of pay stagnation and huge hikes in the cost of living are undermining Trusts’ ability to recruit and retain staff at a time when they are desperately needed.”

The survey also showed that, nationally, fewer than a third of NHS staff are happy with the amount of money they are paid. This picture is mirrored in the 10 biggest London NHS trusts - with roughly 80% of NHS nursing staff being unsatisfied with their pay.

The annual NHS staff survey showed that just 32.7% of health service workers said they are satisfied with their level of pay, a fall of four percentage points from the 2020 survey. The survey comes amid growing anger among unions over the pay of NHS workers.

As for patients, the staffing issues comes as a separate poll found that the public’s satisfaction with the NHS has fallen to the lowest level in quarter of a century.

Just 36% of people said they were satisfied with the service in 2021, the lowest since 1997, according to the 2021 British Social Attitudes survey.

The poll, published by the King’s Fund and Nuffield Trust health think tanks, also found that for the first time since 2002 more people were dissatisfied with the NHS compared with those who were satisfied.

Some 41% were “very” or “quite” dissatisfied, with waiting times, staff shortages and funding remaining the top issues affecting people’s views.

Commenting on the NHS staff survey, Em Wilkinson-Brice, acting chief people officer for the NHS in England, said: “The NHS is nothing without the commitment and dedication of its staff and that has never been clearer than over the past two years as they have cared for over 660,000 Covid patients, rolled out the world leading NHS Covid vaccination programme, all while dealing with record levels of pressure in other parts of the health service.

“Yet staff have stepped up and looked after one another in the face of these pressures, with more people benefiting from extra support from their trust and line manager than in previous years.

“But we know the last two years will have had a knock-on effect on NHS staff, which is why we have maintained our focus on health and wellbeing as set out in our People Plan, including a 24/7 text support line, greater options of flexible working and rapid access to mental health services when needed.”