The pressures of nursing in the NHS as seen through the eyes of a student nurse.
A student nurse currently on a placement describes how strained the NHS is and the pressures the staff are under, the harsh reality is nursing isn’t what it used to be!
News Archive
High cost of living forcing nurses to consider relocating out of London.
More than half of nurses living in London are being forced to leave the capital due to soaring living costs and increasing financial worries. A recent survey, carried out by RCN London, is now calling for an urgent review by London’s major, to include exploring rent controls across private the private rented sector and free travel for nursing staff.
Jeremy Hunt wins health role in select committee ballot.
Ex- Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt elected to head a committee of MPs that will scrutinise NHS performance and the Government health policy. Mr Hunt was among 15 committee chairs elected in a secret ballot. Standing against Boris Johnson for the Tory Leadership last summer, Hunt was the longest serving health secretary between 2010 and 2016.
The Telegraph reports that the number of people contracting potentially deadly E.coli infections has risen sharply, despite a Government pledge to wage “war on superbugs”. Official figures show the number of infections have risen by more than a third since 2013. Experts said shortages of nurses could be fuelling the trend, with rushed staff paying insufficient attention to infection control. In 2016, then-health secretary Jeremy Hunt promised to halve so-called gram-negative bloodstream infections – two thirds of which are E. coli cases – by 2020.
New training standards aimed at reducing the use of restraint and other restrictive practices will help boost the safety and welfare of both nursing staff and patients, according to nurses who have helped devise and test them. The new training standards launched by the Restraint Reduction Network (RRN) will become mandatory from April.
Every midwife across the UK will receive a personal tribute from the Duchess of Cambridge after she shadowed health professionals during visits to new mothers, at clinics and on postnatal wards. The Duchess said the time she spent working alongside midwives at Kingston Hospital’s maternity unit gave her a broader insight into the incredible importance of their work. In an open letter that will be sent to every midwife in the country, she wrote: “You are there for women at their most vulnerable; you witness strength, pain and unimaginable joy on a daily basis.”
The Independent reported how dozens of hospital trusts have failed to act on alerts warning that patients could be harmed on their wards. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has warned that it will be inspecting hospitals for their compliance with safety alerts and could take action against hospitals ignoring the deadlines.
The Nursing Times has published a full list of all the nurses and midwives named on the new year’s honours list, including: the Royal College of Midwives’ executive directive for professional leadership, Birte Harlev-Lam, chief executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens, and previous chief medical officer for England, Professor Dame Sally Claire Davies. Others include Nicolette Peel, a midwife who supports women affected by cancer during pregnancy and their families, and Elizabeth Evans, who has developed stoma care services and Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust’s deputy chief nurse, Yvonne Millard.
Thousands more NHS patients and visitors will be able to access free hospital car parking, the government says. From April, all 206 hospital trusts in England will be expected to begin offering the concession in line with the government’s manifesto promise. Those with the “greatest need” will benefit. That includes groups such as people with disabilities and NHS staff working night shifts. NHS hospital car parking fees were abolished in Scotland and Wales in 2008, although a small number of hospitals in Scotland still charge as they remain tied in to contracts with private companies that manage their parking facilities. Fees may be charged in Northern Ireland.
Community nurses are being forced to delay patient care on a daily basis as health leaders warn the government’s plans for the NHS are undeliverable without significant investment says The Independent. New data has revealed district nurses, who deliver complex care in people’s homes to help them recover and stay out of hospital, are being forced to work an extra day of unpaid overtime every week to try to meet the relentless demand for their services.
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) have admitted waiting times for A&E are far too long after ‘deep concern’ was raised over latest figures. The waiting times, published by StatsWales, show that just 74.4 per cent of patients are seen within four hours in Wales. The worst performing hospital in the country was Glan Clwyd Hospital, in Bodelwyddan, which saw 57.5 per cent of patients within four hours.
The Times reports how more than a third of doctors in maternity units are suffering from burnout leaving them exhausted, showing less empathy to patients and more fearful of making mistakes, a study has found. A survey of obstetricians and gynaecologists by researchers at Imperial College, London, found that 36 per cent met the criteria for burnout. This meant they were six times more likely to experience suicidal thoughts, four times more likely to report depression and three times more likely to suffer from anxiety, irritability or anger.