Quitting nurses ‘do not feel valued’
HEALTH: Nurses are quitting because not enough attention is given to helping them continue working, MPs have warned, citing pay, workload pressures, poor access to continuing professional development and not feeling valued.
NURSES ARE leaving the profession because not enough attention is given to helping them continue working in the NHS, a report by MPs has warned.
Pay, workload pressures, poor access to continuing professional development and a general sense of not feeling valued were some of the many reasons for the staffing shortfall, the Health Committee said.
Official figures released on Tuesday showed the number of vacant nursing posts in England reached a new high of 34,260 last year.
The report warned of “particularly worrying” shortfalls in district nursing, mental health and learning disability nursing, and in nursing homes.
Committee chairwoman Dr Sarah Wollaston said: “We met many front-line nurses during the course of this inquiry.
“We heard a clear message about workload pressures as well as ideas about how to address these.”
The report was released as hospitals continued to struggle with high demand on their services and dangerously high bed occupancy levels.
At Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, routine surgery and some outpatient clinics will be cancelled for eight days from Monday.
Health trusts around the country were previously advised to cancel non-urgent operations up until January 31 under official NHS England guidance.
Hull and East Yorkshire chief executive Chris Long said that so far, the trust had managed to avoid cancelling all non-urgent surgery.
But he said: “The time has now come, however, for us to take more extensive action and we owe it to our patients and staff to ensure we are there for the people who need us most.”
Patients with long-term conditions and those expecting cancer surgery and urgent appointments would not be affected. The cancellations are among measures planned as part of ‘Operation Wintergreen’, which will see hospital staff re-deployed to help with front-line A&E services at Hull Royal Infirmary.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust reported a bed occupancy rate of 97.5 per cent on January 21, higher than the recommended 85 per cent safe level.
Deputy chief executive Suzanne Hinchliffe said: “The position at our hospitals remains challenging.
“Our inpatient and intensive care beds have been fully utilised with staff delivering the best possible care across our 90 wards.”
Barnsley Hospital was among NHS trusts operating at full capacity and reported a 100 per cent occupancy rate on two days in the third week of January.
The trust confirmed it had cancelled all non-urgent and noncancer operations up until January 31, in line with the official NHS guidance.
A trust spokesperson said: “We can confirm that our hospital operated at 100 per cent bed occupancy on occasions from January 20 to 21. As a trust, we recognise the pressure that this places both on our hospital and on our staff and we are working hard to reduce this whilst ensuring that our patients remain safe.
“We would like to reassure patients that despite the current pressures, our high standards of care are being maintained.”
NHS England figures also showed an increase in bed closures due to norovirus or diarrhoea and vomiting from an average of 621 to 742 beds a day nationwide.
Flu levels appeared to be stabilising after placing an added strain on hospitals so far this winter.
We met many front-line nurses during the course of this inquiry.
Dr Sarah Wollaston, chairwoman of the House of Commons Health Committee.