Sunday 2 September 2007

Staffing Levels

It seems to me that the number of patients is increasing, but the numbers of staff on the floor is the same. Coupled with sickness, annual leave and maternity leave it seems that the care is being put at potential compromise by this unbalanced position.

A&E's tend to have 3 areas, majors, minors and resus. They all need adequate nursing levels. It seems that time and time again that we are short. This means working harder than ever to provide the basics, not having breaks to their entirety (AND UNINTERUPTED) and morale and staff health plummeting. We are told we are over staffed, and the answer is long days. Hmmmm in the current environment E does not equal MC2. Staff will become more tired, stressed and mistakes will naturally occur. Check out the Dr's websites and DofH guidelines for proof.

But hey, I love the job. I thrive on the pressure, but I care about my patients and equally if not more about my friends and colleagues, and their well being.

However shit the department is, as labelled above, as long as there are limited breaches then the problem is not highlighted. Targets are good, but it needs to be taken in context of the whole health provision.