NHS staff shortages 'mean patients dying alone' in hospitals

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Northerner

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Patients are dying alone on hospital wards because staff do not have enough time to care for them, nurses say.

The mounting pressure across the UK is also leading to medicines being given late and patients being left in pain.

The issues have been brought to light after the Royal College of Nursing canvassed front-line staff about their experiences of their last shift.

But ministers said despite the concerns raised it was investing in nursing to ensure there were enough staff.

The numbers working in the NHS have increased since 2010, but the RCN maintains this has not been enough to keep pace with demand.

A report earlier this year by the union found one in nine posts were vacant.

Some 30,000 staff, including midwives and health care support workers, took part in this new online research.

The RCN described some of the stories as "desperately sad".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41433159

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Hospital is no place for a terminally ill person to die, whether alone or with family member(s) / friends or a nurse. Dying alone is sad, but it's part of a bigger issue. In fact, the modern hospice movement was started by an amazing woman, nurse and doctor Cicely Saunders, who founded St Christopher's in London in 1967. Britain, while not perfect, is still considered a leading country for care of terminally ill people.
Late administration of medication is a far more widespread problem, and only the increase of nurse staffing levels can improve that.
 
What really niggles me is when the government response to things like this is just to say that there are '11,000 more nurses since 2010' - that may be so, but there are 40,000 vacancies, which rather suggests that the requirement has far exceeded the increase in numbers, and is therefore woefully inadequate :( It's always the same response, stating some big figure, like £xbn more spent or xxx extra bodies (teachers, nurses, doctors etc.), totally ignoring the increase in population, and particularly the ageing population and problems in the Care industry :( 😡
 
NHS is on its knees. I can't remember a time when the hospital has had enough nursing staff and I have been a nurse for 10 years. I won't work as a ward nurse as I feel it is dangerously under staffed especially trained staff. Nursing assistants are brilliant but they are not trained to the same degree and have no professional liability. If things go wrong nurse are always worried it will be them that get disciplined for not overseeing care.

It is a very stressful time. This one of the reasons nurses are leaving in their droves, plus if you are a line manager in a shop, which is the level that a nurse is, you are getting a better pay packet in my opinion.

Nurses I think are really poorly paid in relation to other health care professionals.
 
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Ally beetle said:
NHS is on its knees. I can't remember a time when the hospital has had enough nursing staff and I have been a nurse for 10 years. I won't work as a ward nurse as I feel it is dangerously under staffed especially trained staff. Nursing assistants are brilliant but they are not trained to the same degree and have no professional liability. If things go wrong nurse are always worried it will be them that get disciplined for not overseeing care.

It is a very stressful time. This one of the reasons nurses are leaving in their droves, plus if you are a line manager in a shop, which is the level that a nurse is, you are getting a better pay packet in my opinion.

Nurses I think are really poorly paid in relation to other health care professionals.
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I don’t envy nurses their jobs and understand the disillusionment. I can’t help thinking that the pronderance of females in the profession is a discriminatory theme running through nursing pay. Only 11.6% are male.

Removing nursing bursaries is the craziest, short sighted idea ever and we’ve ended up with such a shortage that the NHS is having to pay masses more for agency staff.

Nurses pay should be in line with Police Officers.
 
Amigo said:
I don’t envy nurses their jobs and understand the disillusionment. I can’t help thinking that the pronderance of females in the profession is a discriminatory theme running through nursing pay. Only 11.6% are male.

Removing nursing bursaries is the craziest, short sighted idea ever and we’ve ended up with such a shortage that the NHS is having to pay masses more for agency staff.

Nurses pay should be in line with Police Officers.
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Absolutely agree with every word! 🙂
 
People have died alone in hospital for as long as I can remember. It's nothing new. As Copepod says, the hospice movement founded by Cicely Saunders in 1967 was, among other things, addressing this very issue.

It's always been difficult on an acute ward to assign an experienced member of staff to sit with someone who is about to pass on. In my opinion that's the job of relatives.
 
mikeyB said:
People have died alone in hospital for as long as I can remember. It's nothing new. As Copepod says, the hospice movement founded by Cicely Saunders in 1967 was, among other things, addressing this very issue.

It's always been difficult on an acute ward to assign an experienced member of staff to sit with someone who is about to pass on. In my opinion that's the job of relatives.
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It is if they have relatives Mike and many people can be in the final stages for a long time. My father had the Last Rites 3 times (he was wonderfully stubborn!).
When my father in law was dying, they barely had the time to try and feed him let alone assign an experienced member of staff to sit with him. Fortunately he had family but some don’t.
 
Aye, Amigo, but in my experience it's nothing new. I was wondering why this has suddenly become a news item. It's a distraction from the real problem of current understaffing.
 
mikeyB said:
Aye, Amigo, but in my experience it's nothing new. I was wondering why this has suddenly become a news item. It's a distraction from the real problem of current understaffing.
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I’m not sure it is Mike because in my experience the people who do lose out as a result of chronic understaffing are the most vulnerable and dependent like the very elderly and terminally ill.
When I had a single room (because of immunosuppression) at the end of the ward which was for the elderly dependent, I was horrified at how long patients were left without attention.
It may be nothing new but it’s a sad reflection of how we treat people at the end of their lives when comfort is needed.
 
mikeyB said:
Aye, Amigo, but in my experience it's nothing new. I was wondering why this has suddenly become a news item. It's a distraction from the real problem of current understaffing.
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Listening to a woman on the telly this morning, that was just one story out of the many different ones that the 30,000 nurses gave - it's just that the media have picked up on it as the most emotive 🙄
 
I have spent a whole night shift looking after a fairly young man in the last hours of life as a Nursing assistant before I did my training.

It was an Honour and very humbling experience to be with him when he passed. Being able to talk to him before and find out about his life when he was still able to converse was amazing, it really helped on that night. This is because I knew what to say and talk to him about when he was no longer able to respond. It makes me emotional thinking about it even now.

I will never forget that experience and I do not think you need to be a trained Nurse you just need to be trained and prepared for what happens and if needed able to debrief after the event.

There can be allot of dignity in dying. Like you all seem to be saying dying alone seems awful. so maybe it should be a priority to always have someone there that knows that person
 
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