RCN in Wales raises concerns about Emergency Department pressures
Published: 23 April 2013
RCN in Wales raises concerns about Emergency Department pressures
Nurses from across Wales today highlighted the extraordinary and persistent pressures on A&E departments. These pressures include ambulances waiting for lengthy periods outside departments, staffing shortages and the risk of compromised patient dignity because of the need to scare for them on trolleys. At its annual conference in Liverpool, RCN members from Wales shared experiences of working in emergency services that they feel are often at breaking point.
They reported that A&E pressures which were traditionally seasonal are now experienced year round and this is contributing to lengthy waits for appropriate clinical areas to place patients. The most vulnerable are worst affected – the elderly, those with mental health needs and the young.
One A&E staff nurse from Wales who has worked in the service for 12 years, said: “Nurses are working very long days with no breaks. Bed pressures have an impact on clinical decisions. Morale can be pretty low at times for nursing staff when you know you want to give the best quality of care but you cannot of lack of capacity and staff. Ambulances are queuing outside of A&E and patients are then being care for in inappropriate areas. The bottom line is that the very people who give care not being properly cared for themselves. It’s not atypical to see nurses going home in tears after their shift.”
Another nurse working in A&E said: “Having to treat and care for patients in corridors is undignified for them and demoralising for us nurses. All nurses want to ensure that their patients have the very best quality of care they can be provided with. Having to cope with these pressures, day in day out where we are unable to give the type of care that we know our patients need and deserve is heart breaking and soul destroying. Relatives constantly support nursing staff and do realise that it is a system failure and not the fault of individual nurses. In addition, there is a lack of training and development for staff. Nursing staff are forced to take up continuing professional development in their own time.”
Peter Meredith-Smith, Associate Director (Employment Relations) of the Royal College of Nursing in Wales, said: “Pressures on unscheduled care have persisted for some years now. They are well-reported in the media. However, it’s easy to forget the impact that this situation has on dedicated nurses on the ground. The accounts of these nurses are typical of the testimony of our members, who on a daily basis are doing their best to deliver dignified, high quality nursing care in often impossible circumstances.”
He added: “The pressures that we are witnessing in our A&E emergency services reflect a wider crisis in our health care system, where nurses in other clinical areas are experiencing similar challenges.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
For further information please contact the Communications office on 02920680732, 07773367707 or email tracy.lenzy@rcn.org.uk
Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is the voice of nursing across the UK and is the largest professional union of nursing staff in the world. The RCN promotes the interest of nurses and patients on a wide range of issues and helps shape healthcare policy by working closely with the UK Government and other national and international institutions, trade unions, professional bodies and voluntary organisations.