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The NHS needs to shape up says stressed and overworked Scottish nurses

This news post is almost 8 years old
 

A Royal College of Nurses survey has uncovered disturbing levels of dissatisfaction amongst nurses working in the NHS

The NHS needs to dramatically shape up, according to stressed and overworked nurses in Scotland.

A Royal College of Nurses survey of nurses, including 1,000 in Scotland, has revealed less than one in five believe the health service is able to meet demand.

Nine out of 10 Scottish nurses also said their workload has got worse with the same number feeling the impact of the rising number of older people requiring care.

There are constant staff shortages, but still an expectation to do 100% of the workload, which increases regularly. The stress in our profession is immense.

Almost three quarters of Scottish nurses reported a higher prevalence of age-related conditions, and 62.5% said there’s a struggle for hospital beds. Over three quarters said that finances have got worse.

One nurse said: “I get scared for the future, as we are already overwhelmed and often work long hours without overtime. Missing breaks to meet demand is normal now.”

Another nurse commented: “There are constant staff shortages, but still an expectation to do 100% of the workload, which increases regularly. The stress in our profession is immense.”

As RCN members get set to debate a number of issues at its national congress in Glasgow this week, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Scotland Director Theresa Fyffe said: “This survey clearly shows how much pressure nursing staff are experiencing on a daily basis because of rising demand, made worse by the financial position of many of our health boards.

"It’s just not realistic to think that health boards can deliver the same services to more and more people and achieve the ongoing efficiency savings demanded by government. The RCN is really concerned that, without urgent transformation to how health services are delivered in Scotland, there’s a risk of a return to the bad old days of boom and bust, with health boards targeting the nursing workforce for cuts simply to balance the books.”

She continued: “The nursing workforce is the single, largest group in the NHS, but health boards must not use the current shortages of nursing staff and having to resort to expensive agency nurses to fill the gaps, as an excuse to downband nursing posts or replace registered nurses with non-registered staff as a way of containing costs. This would be short-sighted and impact patient care.”

In the RCN survey, over four in 10 said that if they could ask for one thing for the future of nursing, it would be more time to care. As one nurse commented: “More staff will give us more time to care for patients and raise standards in the process.”

Fyffe concluded: “Our health services are at a crossroads and could go one of two ways – either continuing down the same road of trying to deliver services in the same way to more and more people and piling ever more pressure on nursing and other staff; or taking a different route and urgently transforming how services are delivered and how success is measured.

"By investing in nursing staff and putting aside vested professional and political differences, the RCN believes transformational change is possible. It would mean a new approach to measuring success in health, focusing on outcomes for people who need to use services and on sustainable improvement in people’s care. Our recently-published report sets out nine principles which we believe are the basis for these changes which are so urgently needed.”

 

Comments

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Elizabeth Scala
almost 8 years ago
Wow, amazing that the nurses responded to the question about having one thing in their career... more time with the patient. I hear this a LOT as well when I talk to nurses both on and offline. In fact, it's why I created the program, The Art of Nursing, during Nurse's Week. To re-energize and reignite the heart of the profession. To remind us that we can be present and spend time caring for our patients... despite the busyness of technology. I commend the authors and all those involved in this article for bringing this to our attention and to share that nurses are committed to seeing change in the workplace.
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