Is there anyone who works for the NHS

[Stressed21]

Who isn't chronically stressed in an understaffed ward/department?

If so, how has your department managed it?

My own workload is often unmanageable, as is that of the majority of the staff I manage and others I speak to. It was bad before COVID, but obviously worse now. I try to ensure the staff below me are coping and OK, but there's only so much I can do when the fact is, we don't have enough staff.

Just interested to hear if anyone doesn't feel this way. Have name changed for obvious reasons

It's like we are sleep walking the NHS off a high cliff. I don't understand why people are not talking about it more?

How are planning to keep patients with flu separate from patients with covid in ICU?

I can see it might theoretically be a good idea, but I can't see how it would be practically possible?

@HHSchultz

It's like we are sleep walking the NHS off a high cliff. I don't understand why people are not talking about it more?

Agree. I get the impression that the media just don't get it. They don't realise that it's not just covid patients that are pushing it over the cliff edge, but all the consequences of the pandemic aside of Covid that have finally caused the NHS to break. Obviously as well as reduced funding for years etc. Its became so sacred that I don't think anyone dares to say it's broken also there is simply no immediate solution to the problem. But the opposition as well as the media should be doing a lot more digging to hold the government to account to the shambles that is now our ineffective, unsafe health service.

Slightly off topic. I work for the NHS part time as an allied health professional, so I'm not a qualified medic/nurse, but would be happy to help out somewhere if I can. Any ideas what I might be able to do in order to help, without being qualified to actually do much?

Not NHS staff but had operation (day surgery) last week at Forth Valley Scotland. At preop had to speak to 3 staff confirming which area I wanted - one on desk, two steps another one giving me directions to the next door maybe 10 steps away then another one telling me to take a seat. Listening two others chatting about slimming world and I knew who was on their period etc.

Day of operation up to ambulatory care, 3 people milling about behind desk. Collected and taken to ward where there were a few nurses. One sat at a desk bemoaning how busy she was. One trainee listlessly wiped down pillows as people left. On ward before op must have gone through name dob palace with 4 peoole then walked down to theatre where did the same with another 3 or 4 people. Listened to staff chatting about someone who had complained about being bullied and another who got caught with her mobile phone. All lovely staff and very caring but definitely not overworked.

Think you all need to put in for a transfer!

Must have gone through name dob palava with 4 people

Tbf, this is usually to check and double check that you are the right person for the operation they are planning to do. You REALLY don't want to be on the receiving end of someone else's operation, or have the wrong organ removed etc. Pre-surgery checklists which are duplicated and carried out by different members of the surgical team make having surgery massively safer for patients.

It's a bit like when you're doing carpentry: "Measure twice, cut once"

@Mantlemoose nice bit of criticism there ? Guess you don't talk at work about anything other than work then ? And obviously one andecdotal tale trumps countless stories of how mad and relentlessly busy people are. Why even bother contributing if you don't work in the NHS apart from to cast aspertions ?

'It's like we are sleep walking the NHS off a high cliff. I don't understand why people are not talking about it more?'

@HHSchultz the same reason people don't want to see other problems - denial and anxiety. No one wants to be the one to say the NHS cannot realistically keep providing what people expect it to and face the consequences.

Makes you wonder about the sudden raise in petrol shortages covering in the media which makes for a slightly better topic...

I work in a Paediatric Department and we are working at about 60% capacity. Experience Staff are leaving, Agency nurses won’t come and work on our unit and our newly qualified nurses are crumbling. There are a good number of nurses off sick with stress.

Staffing levels are dangerous and our managers and matrons are working 5-6 twelve hour shifts a week. We are all exhausted.

A few days ago the waiting time in the children’s A&E was over 9 hours.

There are 4 wards across our unit, and on the baby ward (0-18 months old) they are 83% filled with infants with respiratory viruses, including Covid. We have Covid patients across all the wards.

Some nurses aren’t getting their lunch break until 6pm at night - 10 hours after first starting work.

People seem to think that just because the death rates are going down it means the NHS won’t be overwhelmed and thats such a naive way of thinking. People don’t want to hear what’s really happening inside the hospital walls.

We feel like we are drowning, we have been for months and it is only going to get worse.

And when I say we are working at 60% capacity, I meant to say that we are working at 60% of our normal staffing levels.

[quote Stasiland]@Mantlemoose nice bit of criticism there ? Guess you don't talk at work about anything other than work then ? And obviously one andecdotal tale trumps countless stories of how mad and relentlessly busy people are. Why even bother contributing if you don't work in the NHS apart from to cast aspertions ?[/quote]
Sadly I've been in Forth Valley lmany times over the last year and a half and this is pretty much my experience every time. No I wouldn't talk about issues like this in front of anyone who wasn't a colleague, totally unprofessional slagging off their colleagues and laughing about being on their phone instead of working. Not to mention the swearing, the risqué jokes either. DF was also in hospital 3 weeks ago, no control over visitor numbers, patients in and out smoking, all in seriously unprofessional. Also I can post what I like where I like, it's not casting aspersions it's telling the truth.

But it’s one persons anecdote ? It’s not like that on our unit.

Maybe you should read the tone of the thread @Mantlemoose and start your own thread instead of bemoaning your experience on a thread of NHS staff clearly on their knees mentally.

Perioperative settings are like that--because surgery is so overwhelmingly resource-intensive in terms of staff, consumables, equipment, estates and aftercare, surgical throughput is paced more gently than medical.

Can't believe they let their patients out to smoke, how unprofessional. They should have literally illegally detained them instead. (You're right about risque jokes, swearing, etc in front of patients--avoidable and not on)

I've given my notice and I'm taking a non-nursing job. I've sacrificed enough of my wellbeing to the NHS and I've hit a wall now. Nothing more to give. The end.

There is 1.5 million who work for the NHS most have never seen a covid patient.

I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone here that works for the NHS, in any capacity.

I also would like to say thank you to all NHS staff. I am in constant disbelief that the friends who are nurses and the picture of what is going on in hospitals via the media and the haemorrhaging of staff seems to be passing most people by.

Whilst it would be awful for patients in the short term, I think maybe medics need to strike (short term pain for long term gain). Nothing is going to change otherwise, we're deep in a pandemic and the government seems to be doing precious little to support staff on the frontline. And people will inevitably die as a result. So many on this thread saying staffing levels are unsafe.

Specialist nurse. Absolutely the worst time I have have ever known and been working for the the NHS for 34 years altogether. My small team has been decimated by highly experienced staff leaving, mostly retiring early. They’ve had enough and I don’t blame them, just wish I could do the same. One week about month ago we were running on 20% of staff, over 2 hospitals. Continually knackered, stressed, and distressed that I am desperately trying to maintain standards for my patients, when there is no back up, no let up, nothing. Just another day exactly the same.

Patients telling me their experiences with other parts of the NHS and ranting doesn’t help, but I can’t change that for them. Only listen. Which is more than local management, and national directives are doing for my team and I.

@Againstmachine

There is 1.5 million who work for the NHS most have never seen a covid patient.

People working in supermarkets/hospitality etc didn't see covid patients either but work is and was very stressful. It's not about nursing covid patients. That is what people don't grasp. It is about the tsunami of delayed treatment, increased social distancing reducing capacity and activity on top of a preexisting crumbling service.

I don't care for covid patients but have had the worse 18 months of my life. I've worked harder than ever, achieved far less than ever and face a bureaucratic battle daily. The fighting over finance for everything, space to work, staff to work etc takes up as much time as caring for patients. So my workload has doubled, my team are the unhappiest I have ever seen and I'm managing that (really time consuming supporting distressed workforce and trying to keep them on board) and we know the NHS is failing patients. It's not what I work for. I pride myself on excellent care, short waiting times etc etc. Failing patients is painful.

@Gothichouse40

I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone here that works for the NHS, in any capacity.

How noble of you…. They must find comfort in that

I work as a sonographer
I jumped ship from the huge acute trust I worked in, to a smaller one.
It is still not great but much better than what I was facing in my previous role.
I was redeployed to covid ITU Last december and felt so out of my depth it has left me with lasting issues.

Thankfully, the trust I work in now doesn't have a large ITU so I feel relieved that hopefully I won't be redeployed again.
That said I've worked as an AHP for over 20 years and I have never, ever seen it like this.
The sheer volume of patients vs staff is dangerous.
I have never worked during a period where staff cry so much. It is shite.

Everything here is understaffed and totally under pressured. Aseptic services are understaffed and overwhelmed with work. System is totally fucked!!

I work in an Acute mental health ward. Over 20 patients, lots of suicidal risk and serious attempts each shift. Meant to run on 4 trained, 6 support workers plus other staff.

The last few months we’ve been running on 2 and 2.

It’s an accident waiting to happen. I dread each shift wondering how I can manage observations of possibly 12+ patients with highly risky behaviour, worry that I’m not missing any other patients new risk behaviours, make sure that I don’t treat patients so quickly that I make them feel uncared for.

I regularly stay 2ish extra hours at the end of my shift as night staff don’t turn in. So that’s a 8-1030 ish shift and back at 8 the next day.

Staff off with stress, anxiety, depression... leaving for admin roles. Patients families complaining about care, cutting corners to get the bare minimum done...

I cry every day I go in, all day. I am petrified that one of our patients will come to serious harm.

We have no staff and we have a tidal wave of patients who want/need care completely overwhelming us in my hospital. If a crazy busy day might be 400 people attending ED pre-pandemic it's now 700 every day.

The often quoted figure of 40,000 nursing vacancies in the UK must be out of date now, every day shift my hospital alone is short at least 20 nurses.

I've no idea what the solution is but surely this hell can't continue?

I'm an ODP... been qualified for 25 years.
I've just handed my notice in. I'm done. 😢