NURSES working for NHS Scotland have spoken out about perilous working conditions, as members of the Royal College of Nursing Scotland consider industrial action.
Royal College of Nursing Scotland (RCN Scotland) is balloting members on whether the Scottish Government’s pay offer of 5% is acceptable, and whether they would be willing to take industrial action up to and including strike action. The union are recommending that members reject the offer.
Currently, inflation across the UK is at a 40-year high of 9.4%, with some experts predicting that this could reach 12% by October.
Now nurses from Scotland are speaking out about issues they’re facing in their workplaces. Gail, not her real name as she wishes to remain anonymous, told the Sunday National that while Covid brought renewed attention to the struggles facing nursing staff, many issues facing her and her colleagues predate this
She said: “Covid completely broke a system that was already struggling.
“We were working ratios that in my view were unsafe. On night shifts it would be one nurse to 14 patients. We never had breaks. For example, if there were two nurses on a ward with 28 patients, you can’t leave one nurse by themselves to look after all 28.
“You’re not given the staffing levels to do your job properly. But if we do make a mistake we’re held accountable for it – faced with losing registration, facing the fact we may have done something inadvertently to harm a patient – and that’s really, really worrying and stressful.”
Scotland’s nursing programmes saw a 12% drop in applicants last month, as compared to June 2021.
Additionally, a survey conducted of RCN Scotland members early this year revealed that nearly 40% of nurses in Scotland are working beyond their contracted hours on most shifts, while 72% said they felt they were under too much pressure at work. Three in five nurses said they were thinking about leaving their current post.
Reasons given ranged from feeling undervalued, low pay, excess pressure, and low staffing levels.
Gail added: “We are basically told that’s just how it is; that if you can’t handle it, you’re in the wrong profession – that you have to be tough and just go with it; that your patients are your main priority – which is the case, but we’re only human and can only provide so much care. We need support, and staffing levels that are manageable.
“It really was a wing and a prayer sometimes that everybody made it to the end of a shift without someone having a complete breakdown, or without somebody getting seriously hurt or a mistake happening.”
Brenda Eadie, an NHS nurse and one of the organisers with NHS Workers United For Scotland, said: “There’s a huge influx of patients compared to what there was years ago. So even if nurse numbers have increased, patient numbers have surpassed the safe staffing for that.”
“If you’ve got a patient who needs one-to-one care, we’ve not got enough staff to do that. And so they’re left vulnerable because you could have a ward of 30 patients and only one team member. It’s extremely unsafe. These staff are trying to do the jobs of the six people that should be on the floor.
“The staffing shortages are scary and unsafe. Patients aren’t getting the care that they deserve. They’re getting minimal care because there’s just no feet on the ground, and the ones who are there are exhausted and burnt out.”
Colin Poolman, RCN Scotland interim director, stated the importance of ensuring these ongoing reported conditions do not become “the new normal”.
He said: “Nursing staff are having to treat patients in waiting rooms, corridors and the back of ambulances. Additional beds are being added to wards without the necessary space and facilities, compromising patient safety and dignity. This is totally unacceptable.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said they are “immensely grateful for the incredible efforts of all of our NHS and social care staff over the course of the pandemic”.
They said: “Our nurses and NHS staff are already the best paid in the UK and we have made an offer of a 5% pay rise for this year which, if accepted, will be the biggest single year pay increase since devolution. This follows a 2021-22 pay uplift that saw staff receive an average 4% pay rise.
“Growing our workforce is crucial and that’s why we have steadily increased places on undergraduate nursing and midwifery courses over 10 consecutive years – doubling the number of new intake students in the last decade. We have recruited more than 1000 additional healthcare support staff and almost 200 registered nurses from overseas to help address the unprecedented challenges facing the NHS.
“The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting NHS staff, and made £12 million available in the last financial year to support workforce wellbeing.”
However, many nurses across both NHS Scotland and the wider NHS say more needs to be done.
Gail said: “We’re made to feel guilty – we’re told that if we vote to strike our patients will suffer. We’re so busy advocating for our patients that we don’t really advocate for ourselves. But if we don’t look after ourselves, we can’t look after our patients.”
