NHS and understaffed

[Itsmeagainandagain]

Aibu as a member of staff working within NHS to be fizzing from the ears at the lack of staff.
Another shift another hellish day with not enough staff to help us cope with a heavy ward. 2 staff nurses and 1 HAC for 20 people in various stages of pain and dementia and at least 10 fall risks. What I am absolutely raging mad about is there are nurses and HCAs walking in and out our ward with clipboards to see if we have the correct staffing levels, here's the rant, these clowns should put down the clipboards, roll up the sleeves and get their arses on the wards to do the jobs they were trained to do. It's patronising to nurses and HCAs who are on their knees begging for extra staff and these halfwits are strolling about as if on holiday.

AIBU to be mad, I'm sore all over and had not one break today. My urine was near enough brown because I held in a pee for 6 hours because I couldn't excuse myself to go to the toilet.

When is enough? Do our voices not matter in the workplace we are employed? How do we look after patients when there is 3 people looking after them.

YANBU - the inefficiency in the NHS is ridiculous and absurd. It's baffling how many trained professionals spend their time doing random peripheral jobs or basically nothing whilst others struggle to cope and are working their arses off. Unfortunately, it means that the ones struggling to cope and working their arses off can't take it anymore and either leave or work themselves ill - leaving even fewer to get the job done.

@vodkaredbullgirl you realise these are the same people, but with addition of a medical need as well?

What I am absolutely raging mad about is there are nurses and HCAs walking in and out our ward with clipboards to see if we have the correct staffing levels, here's the rant, these clowns should put down the clipboards, roll up the sleeves and get their arses on the wards to do the jobs they were trained to do.

Well no, that’s not what their boss wants them to do, obviously. They do what their boss assigns them to regardless of what they were trained for.

@Itsmeagainandagain
Bloody hell could have written this word for word.
Midwife just about to start 12.5 hrs shift too many women not enough staff.
Managers just all buggered off. Same old.
On call manager called multiple times last week to come in not enough staff too many women in labour. They came in on 4th call which was made by the consultant!!
Been here too long now and realise this will never change.

Been there, I would suggest you take yourself to the toilet regardless.

I share your angst, theres nothing worse than feeling you are giving only the basic care to patients who deserve better while managers come in to check bedstates, discharges, staffing, moving staff, unable to stay on the ward to help because or their audits and meetings, do you have patient dependency tools , is this normal or due to sickness, does the 6 and 7 work on the ward, put in incident reports and keep a copy, let the RCN know, have a staff meeting and make sure matron and the director of nursing are aware of your concerns. What do infection control say about people walking into different wards.

Totally agree, feel like a failure for not keeping up, almost impossible to keep up. Too much needing done, feel a total failure and want a job where staffing is better

That’s a poor comparison vodkared, there’s a huge difference between a care home and a busy ward in a hospital. (That does not diminish your point re poor staffing in your work place though)

OP I get what you are saying and this is why I moved away from clinical nursing.
Our wards have just been inspected prior to CQC inspection…..
Still no more staff.
As you are probably aware, there is a deficit of thousands of qualified nurses within the NHS, it’s dire, unsafe and very stressful.
Awful situation.
Then of course as a little extra, we are charged to park at the hospital where we work for the privilege of not having a drink or wee for 10 hours & putting our PIN numbers at risk.

Healthcare and social care are appalling, there's been a lot of threads in and around this recently.
I think people need to keep talking about it and letting the public know, and refuse to accept the blame for short staffing and procedures that are put upon them.

And care workers and nurses should be on the same side, not pitted against each other.

@imaginethemdragons

That’s a poor comparison vodkared, there’s a huge difference between a care home and a busy ward in a hospital. (That does not diminish your point re poor staffing in your work place though)

OP I get what you are saying and this is why I moved away from clinical nursing.
Our wards have just been inspected prior to CQC inspection…..
Still no more staff.
As you are probably aware, there is a deficit of thousands of qualified nurses within the NHS, it’s dire, unsafe and very stressful.
Awful situation.
Then of course as a little extra, we are charged to park at the hospital where we work for the privilege of not having a drink or wee for 10 hours & putting our PIN numbers at risk.

Oh goodness the CQC inspections add a whole other level to it! In a previous trust we had Band 8 and Band 6 member of staff who spent their days going round the site checking that the correct things were being displayed on the notice boards eg health and safety, safeguarding stuff etc. Madness and maddening in equal measure!

Your trust must have a process for reporting near misses, incidents and risks. Have you used it? I would hazard a guess that your trusts managers don't read Mumsnet so won't ever have a clue what's going on unless you voice your concerns. Not moaning to colleagues but actually writing it down and putting your name against it.

That's what angers me. People who are angry and remain angry because they won't use the vehicle in place to legitimately bring issues to management attention, then further moan that they don't want to stand up for themselves and their colleagues.

If only one nurse brings issues to management attention then yes that concern may well get lost under other more pressing concerns but if every nurse and doctor complained correctly every single time staffing was an issue management couldn't possibly ignore it.

Please don't get ill by not going to the loo when you need to. Nobody will ever thank you for being off with kidney stones.

I'm an hca and I'm baffled why there is so called nurses walking about checking wards but not actually in then when my workmates are snowed under, I'm baffled why there is hcas walking about with clip boards when we fellow hcas are snowed under. Fuck their bosses do the jobs they were trained to do, the more people shout the more they will have to listen, nothing justifies leaving patients or staff at risk. Obv the bosses are not fit for purpose!

Yip I hear ya! See it daily and have done so for over 20 years! A cafe has more staff serving tea and cakes than most wards. How can x2 nurses and x2 HCA look after 24 sick patients safely ? There is never any praise just more and more expected from senior staff plus complaints from relatives about missing pants. I’m amazed there are any staff left. These senior nurses know exactly what’s it like, that’s why they got out, they wouldn’t know where to start on these wards. It’s the camaraderie between ward staff that keeps it going, however the Wards can’t run on goodwill and camaraderie for ever. Never mind the George Cross Medal we all got today, how about a few extra nurses !

Ok I might have been a bit insensitive.

I do get what the op is on about, overworked, under staffed and under paid.

The senior nurses are the ones saying nothing and putting added pressure on the staff nurses who in turn put pressure on the hcas, when is enough. Is the shit pay worth that?

I hear you. I got out of the NHS. I was sick to death of being told what to do by band 7 and 8s of whom there were many (clinical but not nursing) while they largely sat in their offices doing 'research'.

Absolutely YANBU. Exactly the same out in district nursing. Our pleas for more nurses fall on deaf ears, with more and more risks being put on our registration by the week. Morale is the lowest it has ever been. It is heartbreaking.

@chocolateorangeinhaler

Your trust must have a process for reporting near misses, incidents and risks. Have you used it? I would hazard a guess that your trusts managers don't read Mumsnet so won't ever have a clue what's going on unless you voice your concerns. Not moaning to colleagues but actually writing it down and putting your name against it.

That's what angers me. People who are angry and remain angry because they won't use the vehicle in place to legitimately bring issues to management attention, then further moan that they don't want to stand up for themselves and their colleagues.

If only one nurse brings issues to management attention then yes that concern may well get lost under other more pressing concerns but if every nurse and doctor complained correctly every single time staffing was an issue management couldn't possibly ignore it.

Please don't get ill by not going to the loo when you need to. Nobody will ever thank you for being off with kidney stones.

Absolutely people should be reporting, and people do. Unfortunately this shit has gone on behind closed doors with the blame being directed to the wrong quarters for too long, with the big bosses nodding sagely and saying how lessons have been learned and nothing changes. The public need to be aware of what's going on in healthcare and social care from the people who are doing it every day.

I have been there OP and understand everything you have posted.I have been retired from NHS nursing for 10 years now.It was like this when I left and am very sad to see that it has not changed.Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians.

I left care work nearly 8 years ago now, as I was working in a nursing home. It had nearly 80 complex care residents, most of whom were bed bound/end of life care and needed 2 carers for everything. One awful shift, there were 3 of us to care for 40 residents, I had less than 15 minutes of total break over 12 hours and was dehydrated and hungry. I was driving home, and my vision went all funny so had to ring DH to come and rescue me. I handed my notice the next day.

@Itsmeagainandagain

I'm an hca and I'm baffled why there is so called nurses walking about checking wards but not actually in then when my workmates are snowed under, I'm baffled why there is hcas walking about with clip boards when we fellow hcas are snowed under. Fuck their bosses do the jobs they were trained to do, the more people shout the more they will have to listen, nothing justifies leaving patients or staff at risk. Obv the bosses are not fit for purpose!

So make a well thought out sensible unemotional complaint then.

Don’t blame other HCAs and nurses for doing what they’re told.

If it makes you feel better, it’s the same elsewhere in the NHS! I work in a GP practice, we now have 4 practice managers, 3 people doing QOF, 2 people dealing with complaints… most of the complaints are from patients who can’t get through due to the lack of receptionists, yet it never dawns on them to muck in & pick up a phone themselves 🙄

The most constructive way to deal with a complaint is to point out how this affects patient care and safety, managers just turn round and say we are all busy, many are managers because they cannot cope on the wards anymore. They are not so called nurses, they are nurses and some may have very valid reasons to be out of ward work but there are some who just dont want to help at all and some who do. You can involve your union reps and write incident reports or make concerns to the cqc.