Nurse reveals NHS pressures
A NURSE working in A&E has described the unrelenting pressures facing frontline NHS services as coronavirus cases skyrocket. Neil Evans said emergency departments across the region were now treating a “barrage” of patients.
A NURSE working in A&E has described the unrelenting pressures facing frontline NHS services as coronavirus cases continue to skyrocket.
Neil Evans, a full-time nurse based in south Wales, said emergency departments across the region were now treating a “barrage” of seriously unwell patients on “bare” staffing numbers.
He said senior nurses were struggling to juggle rotas, with many employees having to take on additional hours and even come in during their annual leave to ensure patient care was not compromised.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Wales Board member described his colleagues’ physical and mental health as a “ticking time bomb” which he fears will explode once the pandemic is over.
According to latest NHS Wales figures, on December 14 2,124 patients were in hospital with confirmed or suspected coronavirus - the most since the pandemic began.
“People keep calling us heroes. We’re not. We are dedicated healthcare professionals who care for the sick and injured day in, day out,” he explained.
“We are just normal human beings who have chosen a very demanding profession. We suffer from the same problems as every other member of society – fatigue, exhaustion, mental illness and physical illness.”
Neil, 49, said his own emergency department was “extremely busy” and was treating an increasing number of coronavirus patients over recent weeks.
“A lot of younger people are coming in with no known respiratory problems,” he said.
“Some of them are being admitted with Covid maybe a week to 10 days down the line who are quite unwell and need oxygen.
“There’s definitely an increased pressure. Anybody coming in with respiratory problems is being isolated as soon as they enter the emergency department.”
This rising demand, he claimed, was having a knock-on effect on the Welsh Ambulance Service who were having to wait outside A&E departments for longer before being able to admit their patients.
“That’s obviously going to have an impact on care in the community,” he said.
“Senior nurses are doing everything they can to keep staffing at legal levels [in A&E]. They’re using agency and bank staff, and permanent staff are cutting short days off.
“I was due to have this week off because of holidays and birthdays, but I have cut that short to help out the department. I’m switching days here, there and everywhere; so much so that I forget what shifts I’ve swapped and who I’ve swapped with.
“Some health boards are now paying enhanced rates to encourage staff to work extra, but there’s only so much you can do.”
Neil, who will turn 50 today, admitted he was physically and mentally exhausted after battling against the virus since March.
“Psychologically, it’s taking me a couple of hours after a shift to unwind, and that goes for all my colleagues,” he said. “I have a very close family, but I haven’t been able to see them as a group since the summer. As much as I want to celebrate a birthday with them, we simply can’t. We always do something; a cinema trip – all that’s gone.”
All four UK nations made a decision in November to relax Christmas restrictions to allow three households to meet indoors between December 23 and 27. But the pressure to reverse this decision to save lives was last night building.
“Governments are making these decisions based on scientific evidence. That’s what we’re told, that’s what we believe in,” he said.
“That’s fine, but sometimes I really think we need to listen to the people on the ground who deal with this day in, day out, rather than someone who is looking at statistics.
“Nobody seems to be listening to the nurses.”
Speaking on BBC Radio Wales yesterday morning, director of RCN Wales Helen Whyley said: “I’m hearing lots from nurses across Wales about the significant stresses and pressures they are facing with the influx of Covid patients.
“That’s added onto the fact that nurses are part of the general population and are catching the virus themselves and being informed through Track and Trace that they must selfisolate.
“I think there are significant pressures in the system which mean politicians need to look at a range of measures, as well as listening to the voices of the professionals, and think long and hard about what decisions need to be made for the Welsh population in the next few days.”
Ms Whyley said it was important for health boards to consider postponing non-urgent appointments and procedures to ensure resources are “moved into the right areas”.
Aneurin Bevan and Swansea Bay University Health Board have already taken this decision, and more are expected to follow in south Wales in particular.
She also said a uniform approach across the UK to the rules over Christmas was the sensible thing to do to avoid confusion. But she admitted it would also make sense to reverse this decision together should it save lives.
“To make this decision well ahead of time allowed the message to be hammered home so people knew three households could ‘bubble up’,” she said.
“The difficulty now is, if this message does change, that people will get confused. There’s also the risk that people will just end up doing their own thing [if there are no rules].
“But you have to balance that with the safety of people. The best thing that we can do to help the nurses we’ve been applauding every week is to not jeopardise our own health and the health of others, and to act responsibly and try and limit the number of social contacts we have over the holiday period.”
She added: “We have seen a significant rise in infection rates over the last couple of week.
“We know we can open field hospitals, but the really tricky bit is ensuring they are staffed by expert clinical staff. They are much more important than if we have enough beds.”
Ms Whyley concluded by stating that staff morale was as low as she’s ever known it.
“Some of our members are verging on exhaustion or are at the point of exhaustion,” she said.
“We have had months of staff working long shifts, wearing PPE and dealing with some incredibly difficult things. Clearly they want to put patients first but we have to recognise this is putting a strain on the staff as well.
“Staff in the NHS want to have a normal Christmas like the rest of us do, but that isn’t where we are this year.”