Sussex nurses face: “the worst week”

Published: 13 March 2013

Nurses from the A&E department at the Royal Sussex County Hospital have contacted the Royal College of Nursing concerned that they are unable to deliver good patient care due to overcrowding and understaffing.
 
Nurses have told the RCN South East Region that the last week in the department has been 'the worst week of their working lives', with ongoing pressure on A&E and the local ambulance service due to the high demand across the Sussex region showing no sign of improvement.
 
On Monday (11 March) the hospital was once again forced to declare a major incident in due to the high level of demand, and to ensure patient safety, where ambulances were advised to divert to other A&E departments.
 
Teresa Budrey, Sussex Officer for the RCN, said: “Staff members are feeling stressed out and undervalued. They are desperately trying to deliver good care in difficult and challenging circumstances. There have been up to 13 patients waiting to be placed at one time, although they have all had access to triage support from a senior nurse, and the ambulance service.
 
“We are urging our members at the hospital to contact us to report problems and to seek support if things are getting too much for them by calling RCN Direct on 0345 772 6100. The more we know about the issues the more we can try to help.
 
“We understand the pressure on A&E is caused by a number of factors, not all of which can be helped, but we are deeply concerned by this situation. We are pressing managers at the hospital to resolve this situation in the interests of both patients and staff."