Nurses’ damning verdict on NHS

Exclusive poll reveals plunging morale

THOUSANDS of NHS nurses say they no longer have time to look after patients safely.

Fewer than one in 10 nurses polled by the Sunday Mirror in an exclusive survey said they were always able to deliver adequate care.

We polled 3,000 stressed-out and overworked lifesavers.

A shocking 81 per cent said patients are receiving a worse standard of care in the NHS now than five years ago.

Equally alarming is that nearly half of Britain’s nurses have seen patients suffer needlessly due to brutal Tory cuts.

And such is the level of strain nurses are under, more than half say they are looking to quit the NHS – creating the potential for a staffing timebomb at a time when there are already more than 20,000 vacancies.

A snapshot of opinions from stressed staff – displayed across the top of these pages – makes grim reading.

And the findings of our survey – one of the biggest ever of NHS workers – are a damning indictment of Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s stewardship.

Janet Davies, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “This is a sombre snapshot of the state of the Health Service, direct from the staff keeping it afloat.

RATIONED

“As pressures rise to new and extreme heights, the Government is digging a deep, dark hole for our NHS.”

More shocking results from the poll, carried out with the Nursing Standard magazine, show:

53 per cent of nurses say they have witnessed services being rationed that were freely available five years ago.

45 per cent of nurses say they “sometimes” have time to deliver safe patient care, four per cent say they “never” have time, 42 per cent do “most of the time” and only eight per cent “always” do.

83 per cent of nurses feel there aren’t enough staff to provide safe levels of care.

56 per cent feel under pressure to save money in the way they work every day .

Ms Davies added: “We know that the right staffing levels are needed for patient safety, yet here we see understaffing is fast becoming the norm.

“Safety should be the bare minimum for all patients, not just the lucky few.

“Nursing staff love their jobs, but there is only so much they can take. With 24,000 nurse vacancies in the UK, the Government needs to do all it can to bring more people into the profession, including funding their education.

“It also needs to keep those it already has by taking urgent steps to improve working conditions and finally paying nurses a salary that reflects their immense value. No one can expect great results from a service under this much strain. Action and investment are needed now for the sake of patients, staff and the health of the whole country.”

One of the nurses who responded to our poll works at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, where two patients died earlier this year following long waits on trolleys in A&E. She said: “I have been on night shifts where I’ve been one of two nurses looking after 36 patients.

“That is not safe and of course it affects patient care. We absolutely try our best, but we can’t stretch ourselves into three or four different people and patients do have to wait longer for pain relief, they do have to wait longer to go to the bathroom. I can work shifts from 7am to 9pm without taking a break. I am exhausted.

“I’ve only been qualified for eight months and sometimes I do regret my decision to become a nurse.”

According to our poll, nearly a quarter of nurses said morale has hit “rock bottom”, with another 42 per cent

There are simply not enough resources to do the job properly. We have faulty equipment we can’t afford to replace, the fear of litigation means paperwork has tripled in recent years, so more and more time is spent filling it out rather than with the patients. There aren’t enough staff to cover all areas, so staff are spread too thinly, meaning they don’t have enough time to carry out even the most basic care.” Services are rushed. Hospitals are pushed. People get discharged and end up readmitted due to staff being pushed to get them through the service too fast.

describing it as “poor”. And the situation is worsening all the time, with 81 per cent saying they feel more stressed now than five years ago.

A staggering 14 per cent said they feel stressed ALL of the time at work, 45 per cent are stressed most of the time and 39 per cent feel under strain “some of the time”. Only two per cent said they have never felt stressed on the job.

Nurses are also furious about their low wages after years of having their pay frozen. A massive 83 per cent of those surveyed said they didn’t feel fairly paid, while 18 per cent are worried about losing their job in the next year. But despite all the pressures our hardworking nurses are facing, their passion still remains – with 61 per cent saying they are proud to work in the NHS.

We are run ragged but safe patient care is, was and always will be a priority. Even if it means that we have to work overtime. I used to love my job, but now it impacts on my home life as I worry about things that I could have done differently. At the end of the week I am physically and emotionally exhausted. I find myself increasingly emotional as I can’t achieve the things I want to. It’s impossible to give the care the nation expects. Being in such a stressed workplace and trying to be “wonder women” is hard.

NURSES are the backbone of our NHS. They do a difficult job in increasingly stretched conditions.

And as most hospital patients will bear witness, they usually do it with a smile and without complaint.

So when more than 90 per cent of nurses say they are not always able to deliver adequate care, Jeremy Hunt must sit up and take notice.

With the verdict of eight out of 10 nurses that care standards are worse now than they were five years ago, the picture of an NHS in crisis is complete.

If it loses its backbone, crisis will turn to calamity. Of the 3,000 nurses who took part in our survey, more than half are ready to quit.

Under-funding and overwork is demoralising the nursing profession. A night shift nurse told of being one of two looking after 36 patients. She said: “That is not safe.” Mr Hunt must get a grip. Chancellor Philip Hammond must give him more money. And PM Theresa May must put her thinking cap on.

The short-term priority must be to avert imminent disaster and pick the NHS up off its knees. Then a long-term solution must be found to keep it on its feet.

That means difficult choices for all of us, not just Mrs May.

While the ills that afflict the NHS are not all about money, more money will have to be found.

This will either have to come from higher taxation, charging the better off for some services or another area of government spending going without.

The Chancellor made a pig’s ear of his first budget. Mr Hammond can redeem himself by getting his second one right in the Autumn.

By heeding the emergency call our nurses are making today.