NURSES' LIFE SUPPORT FOR NATION'SICK NHS; Service Surviving on Staff Goodwill, Say RCN Chiefs

Byline: MADELEINE BRINDLEY

NURSES are propping up the NHS by missing breaks and mealtimes and working up to five hours' unpaid overtime a week.

Nursing leaders today raised serious concerns about patient safety as four out of five nurses said staffing levels in their area of work are low.

A survey for the Royal College of Nursing revealed 95% of nurses work more than their contracted hours to ensure patients are cared for.

And one in five said they work overtime every shift - nurses in Wales are doing an average of 3.4 extra unpaid hours a week.

The survey, published today ahead of the start of the RCN's annual Congress, comes amid concerns about the impact of recruitment freezes imposed by cash-strapped health boards.

Nurses have told Wales on Sunday how senior and experienced colleagues' jobs are not being filled when they leave or they are being replaced by less-qualified nurses.

And, in some cases, health boards, which are trying to bridge multi-million pound funding gaps in their …

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Publication information: Article title: NURSES' LIFE SUPPORT FOR NATION'SICK NHS; Service Surviving on Staff Goodwill, Say RCN Chiefs. Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: Wales On Sunday (Cardiff, Wales). Publication date: April 10, 2011. Page number: 10. © 2009 MGN Ltd. COPYRIGHT 2011 Gale Group.

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