Workforce shortages in hospital and community services are so severe that patients are being left in pain and in some cases dying alone, the 快猫视频 (快猫视频) reveals, as new analysis shows just a third of shifts had enough registered nurses.
Shortages mean individual nurses are often caring for dozens of patients at a time. The 快猫视频 is now calling for safety-critical limits on the maximum number of patients a single nurse can be responsible for.
The College is releasing its latest ‘Last Shift’ survey results [NOTE 1], which asked more than 11,000 nursing staff about their experiences on their most recent shift.
On the first anniversary of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, nursing staff say they are demoralised from being unable to keep patients safe, with hundreds of services unable to fill the number of registered nurse posts planned for.
In hospitals and community settings, just a third (Hospital, 32%; Community, 36%) of nursing staff said that their shift had the planned number of registered nurses on it. One in three hospital shifts were missing at least a quarter of the registered nurses they needed, whilst in the community almost four in ten shifts were missing up to half of the planned number of registered nurses.
Across all settings, eight in ten (81%) say there aren't sufficient numbers of nurses to meet the needs of patients safely.
Registered nurses are degree-educated, highly skilled professionals who deliver the vast majority of clinical care, but in England there are no limits on the maximum number of patients a single nurse can care for. The 快猫视频 says safety-critical nurse-patient ratios ensure staff don’t care for an unsafe number of patients. Today, it is calling for legally enforceable ratios to be introduced.
Across shifts in hospitals and in the community, nursing staff say there are too few of them to keep up with demand. In A&E settings, significant numbers of nurses reported having more than 51 patients to care for. In outpatient settings, caseloads of more than 51 patients were consistently reported [NOTE 2].
A nurse working in the community in the South West of England, said: “We have days when we have 60 visits unallocated because we don't have enough staff. Every day we are asked to do more. We are always rushing.”
Another, also working in the community in the South of England, said: “We leave over 50 patients requiring nursing care unseen on a daily basis due to poor staffing levels. This leads to increases in hospital admissions and death. It is left to us to decide who gets seen and who gets missed, which is heartbreaking.”
The 快猫视频 says understaffing creates a ‘vicious cycle’ in which patients cannot access guaranteed timely care close to home, causing conditions to worsen and heaping more pressure on hospitals where shortages are just as severe.
In a hospital in the West Midlands, England, one nurse, said: “I have not been able to sit with patients who are dying meaning they have been l