NHSers - how are things?

[twitchyyellow]

Bloody awful in my camp! Has been described as 'winter in summer' for weeks.

Every bed is occupied, every overflow area open, been on Opel 4 for weeks, all elective surgery has been cancelled for 3 weeks, COVID cases doubling over night but there's no beds left unless another ward is closed and reopened as COVID.

Tons of staff sickness or self isolation, dangerous level of staffing everywhere. Really complex presentations obviously people have not been accessing medical care over the last year. It's just awful. And we're in a fairly low case area.

We are struggling but more due to staff sickness/isolation than numbers/complexity of patients. But my speciality is very minimally affected by Covid generally. Staffing is dire though.

OK from a covid perspective. Dire for everything else, those who’ve ignored stuff for 16 months and also a LOT of young child non-covid respiratory illness.

Staffing is just diabolical with close contact isolation.

Also OK from covid perspective, overwhelmed as @Bobholll says re picking up all that's been missed over the past 16 months.
The amount of young people coming in and being diagnosed with stage 4 and mets is awful

COVID perspective it’s ok, just fed with with the ever changing guidance re what masks we wear and how we manage patients.

I’m in mental health, the real issue is not having anywhere near enough nurses and constant pressure for beds. I’m as burnt out as I have ever been and I don’t think I can keep going much longer without something giving.

Never have I wanted to leave nursing quite so much!

Ok from a covid perspective though numbers are creeping up & isolation is having an impact on staffing. Hospital v busy tho. Lots of presentations to A&E. Extra bed space being made in each ward. At least 3 of our small team off with long covid/ burnout.
Worried what winter will look like.

I echo everything above, particularly the staffing issues, which are just brutal. I'm working two days overtime this week to avoid patients being cancelled.

The other big issue right now is that patient understanding has gone. A year ago, patients could not have been more understanding. Now? Constant complaints about waits and service restrictions. Which I empathise with, but it's out of our control. It's hugely demoralising to be working relentlessly and be told you're doing a bad job.

I'm dreading next week. Rules in healthcare settings have not changed, but I suspect we're going to have constant battles requiring people to wear masks when they come in. After all - Boris says it's all over.

Mostly we're just all tired. I just don't know if I can do it again.

I echo everything above.

Covid increasing slowly. Ridiculous amount of A&E presentations. Staffing situation dire and everybody very tired - it’s just relentless.

Sorry to gatecrash, but thank you to you all. I can't begin to imagine how hard and relentless it's been

Yes to the complaints. This is not of our doing and there's so little we can do except what we've been doing for months.

We haven't got masses of COVID patients in the hospital but they are creeping up quickly. It's housing them that is difficult. We've literally no spare areas to convert to blue zones. Everywhere is bursting with medical / late presentation / very sick people. If we have to close a medical ward to create a second COVID space....well that's a lot of discharges required.....and a lot less admissions to accommodate. We've got contacts and self isolations popping up all over the hospital closing bays and blocking discharges.

We are all completely done. Exhausted - definitely but just totally worn down by this new method of working which sees no end of stopping.

Monday will be ridiculous.

Covid so far not a huge problem but I work with older people who are by and large all double Vaxxed.

What is a huge issue is staff self isolation or their kids bubbles bursting causing childcare issues and most of all the massive, massive pent up demand.

Here in mental health land we are overwhelmed with the increases in people suicidally depressed, mega anxious to the point of tipping into psychosis, late diagnoses with severe presentations due to GPs and community services shut, relapse of people with chronic illness because of lack of support, sky high alcoholism, drug misuse and domestic violence. Social pressures of isolation, job losses, financial problems, bereavement

It feels like it's raining down on us very hard now. It feels unfair because we suffered with Covid outbreaks and deaths too and kept working all the way through and just when you thought things might get better I can only see a world of pain and misery. The trust are talking about rationing and cutting back to essential services because we cannot meet demand. You can't even get sectioned without a few days wait because the AMPH service is flooded with requests.

Crap

I'm not coping.
My husband is stuck abroad so I'm taking care of 2 young kids and working. No breakfast clubs. So I'm late every day. I'm behind on my admin cos I gotta get home ASAP after finishing.
I'm constantly ringing and messaging people so they know when to pick up kids. Drop off. Etc
If Im running late picking up kids I'm getting phone calls from family asking where I am.

Last week the people who usually help me with pick up and drops caught covid so had to rely.on different family. Unfortunately not very reliable.

My kids seems to be picking up every bug going. My nights are spent sitting with them while they cough and vomit due to coughing. Limited sleep. They just seem to be sick all the time. Difficult to ring the GP cos I'm at work all the time a the people doing the drop offs are useless with this.

Had to miss work on Monday cos one kid started with a temp again and the covid results didnt come for over 24 hours. I cant work from home because kids aged 7 and 3 wont leave me alone and I know I wont be able to. Wont be able to do any phone consults with kids screaming in the background.

I did speak to work and ask if I could take off some unpaid leave but they are already shortstaffed and refused. So just muddling along for now.

I dont think I'm there yet but if it just worsens I'd be looking at taking off time due to stress but luckily I seem to be coping for now.

School holidays starting so this will make drop offs easier- wont have to wait til school starts after 8.30, just drop off at family earlier.

I'm sorry that you're getting so many medical / late presentations and very sick people. But that will be people like my DH, who was referred for an operation 18 months ago (just before the pandemic) and who is getting worse every day. He will reach a point where he becomes an emergency case. I know that the Covid situation is out of your control but his deteriorating health is out of his control; and constant pain combined with strong medication impacts his mood.

I'm as keen for an end to this pandemic as you are.

to all of you. And to JenniferAllison too. I'm sorry it's such a crap situation.

And that's just home life.

Staff are off with stress. And then self isolating increasing the work load for everyone else. Patient demand increasing and increasing complaints.

mega anxious to the point of tipping into psychosis

And that's just the staff.

Pretty much same as everyone here has said! I will never recommend my children to become a nurse/doctor or ahp.
The amount of vacancies in my trust and burnout/sick leave is crazy. It makes me wonder what the Tories said a few months ago. Basically that nhs staff do not deserve a pay rise as they are not there for the money, it’s a vocation.

Well obviously it’s not, if we look at the numbers. Stress, abuse, pressure from upper management and constant fear of forgetting something or being sued. I have friends working in other fields making double than me and whereas they have stress/pressure at work, they agree that as a nurse I get same or even more!

It's Catch 22 it's no-ones fault
We all wanted to be doing our proper work that we trained for and chose to do and not Covid but there was no choice at the time. Non COVID things had to be cancelled to accommodate Covid demand but also to stop everyone catching Covid in hospital.

Around Christmas every ward in our acute trust was a Covid ward. The whole place literally was the red zone. I tried really hard not to send anyone there because the chances they wouldn't catch Covid were close to zero so you had to be sure that they had a greater chance of dying of whatever else was wrong than the inevitable Covid infection. Plus if they did die in the acute hospital you knew it would be alone. For some patients we agreed with their families they'd have a more dignified death staying with us but in normal times I know some would have been saved and that troubles me so much.

We knew we were storing up trouble but I've been too busy firefighting the Covid stuff every day to have it to the fore front of my mind until right now when it's happening. It's like another fresh hell.

I regret my career choice a lot these days and fantasise about retirement even thought it's realistically a decade away. I never used to. I used to enjoy my job and feel I was doing good and helping people but it's just a depressing slog now.

Motorina

Community is dire. No covid but no staff.
Too many young people at end of life due to late or misdiagnosis. It's only going to increase over time.

Before Covid I'd been Doing the job 10 years, in that time I've had two patients under 25 die.
I've had three this week. It's heartbreaking.

We had the most admissions and the longest breaches in the whole country in June, and our worst figures for all of that on record. Huge teaching hospital.

Sorry, that was for our ED.

MH community.

Lots of staff issues, people off isolating due to school bubbles etc. Morale is low for people working from home too (limited numbers in the offices)just doing visits and home to write up, no opportunity to have those short chats with your team that reassure you or support you to deal with high acuity and risk. Not allowed to have meetings face to face.

There have been a lot of deaths in my sector, older people's, which impacts on staff emotionally. Case loads keep rising too and there are still difficulties in accessing 3rd sector support.

It will be awful when restrictions lift and ours don't, complaints will go up more and demand for face to face (which we have done throughout where needed but takes longer and clinics are limited)will be higher but we have no capacity.

It's hard right now.

Thank you to all of you for your hard work. A few of my close relatives are NHS workers and I know you all give it everything you have. Know that many of us are so so grateful and will support you in any fight for improved pay and conditions.

Mental health. Contractor/locum rather than employee though. Caseloads high, I also work 3rd sector and private, high demand everywhere and I feel so awful having to turn people away even when they can and want to pay. Burned out to fuck and every time there’s a Boris announcement I get a spate of patients going into crisis for a variety of reasons, I work at the complex end so many of my patients struggle with change. Some have loved lockdown and are petrified of opening up. Others have suffered immeasurably under restrictions and are petrified the opening up won’t last and daren’t permit themselves to begin to enjoy it. I am more exhausted than I’ve ever been in my entire life.

@Mandatorymongoose I hear you on missing chats with colleagues, the bits that help get you through the day.

If would be helpful if posters could give a rough geography as it's hugely different across the country. Down here (London and SE area) we are operating well. Good capacity And patients being surgically treated. Not the same for colleagues in the north who have still not really got up and running again surgically.