Workforce crisis leaves the NHS teetering on the brink - but there is a way forward

[Northerner]

The NHS workforce shortage is forcing staff to work long hours with no breaks, and go lengthy spells without eating, drinking, sitting down or using the toilet. And when they are that hungry, exhausted and overstretched, they make mistakes.

This crisis comes after a year that, judged by any standards, was one of the worst in the history of the NHS. During a decade of decline, all the key indicators in the health service worsened, with more than 4.5 million patients now on waiting lists for treatment – more than ever before.

A shortage of doctors, nurses, beds and ongoing care facilities for elderly patients means patients on trolleys in corridors and levels of care that are far from safe are commonplace. Crises once confined to winter are now an all-year-round occurrence.
For anyone wondering whether the new decade will bring anything different, the first days of 2020 brought the news that A&E waiting times are the worst on record. Whatever the rest of this year brings in terms of the NHS workforce strategy, extra funding, or any other government policies, the health service will continue to teeter on the brink unless public health is made the focus.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jan/21/workforce-crisis-nhs-teetering-brink

 

[Jodee]

Things have got to change, no way I want anyone operating on me if they are not adequately, rested, red and watered and definitely if not if they are crossed legged 😉

Neighbour waited 6 hours recently for a hernia op, they sent him home at 7pm saying that is the end of surgery today. So now he has to wait for another appointment.

 

[trophywench]

Yes - that happens frequently and nothing has changed there for 5 years or more. Even when the planned op is to remove cancer since that was the op Pete had now 4.5 years ago which was cancelled in the late afternoon twice. However, at our hospital, cancelling an op 3 times on the trot is one of those 'never' events when there's hell to pay, hence the third time he had the operation.

Dunno if that applies to other ops or only cancer though.

 

[grovesy]

I retired 8 years ago and I often went without breaks, and at the end of some shifts I did not know where I ached most.

 

[mikeyB]

When I was a junior doctor, I did a paediatric weekend on call. I went into work on the Friday morning, and got home after the weekend after working a full day on Monday. I got a total of eight hours continual sleep, in 80 hours of continual duty. Got home and slept for 14 hours. That’s around 45 years ago. I didn’t feel stressed at all - just tired. Things are, of course, much better now, but they build hospitals without doctors accommodation these days, so you can’t finish work and crash out.

By the way, I assume this article refers to NHS England. And here’s the socialist bit - if the NHS were properly unionised, they’d get proper overtime payments. The police do.

 

[Thebearcametoo]

Doctors and nurses have always worked through some breaks and junior doctors especially had inhuman workloads. The problem now is that staff numbers have been pared back on top of that so there is even less flexibility in the system. It’s not fair on any worker to be expected to not eat in a 12 hour shift. It’s not fair on any worker to be so busy that they don’t have time to go to the toilet in a 12 hour shift. This is the norm now for my friends who are midwives (which has always been a profession where breaks were likely to be missed). It’s not sustainable for staff or patients.