Stress is very high in medical and nursing situations. However, the article spectacularly fails to consider how much of the stress is directly related to the running of the hospitals. Staffing levels, budget constraints, equipment shortages (anything from ventilators to sticky tape) junior Doctors who are often at best careless and at worst downright dangerous. Has any of this been taken into consideration?

Teamwork? It is difficult to encourage teamwork when so many staff are bank or agency who work just the one shift on your ward and you never see them again. Nursing in particular is all about the continuity of care. With the NHS situation as it is currently, this is rarely possible. Handover reports were mandatory, but I have in the past worked on wards where no report was given so as an agency nurse, I had no idea what was wrong with the patients I was entrusted to care for.

Personally, unless the money is provided to secure the infrastructure and to provide adequate staffing levels, I don’t see how these talks will help. However, if proper staffing levels were adhered to and the buget was aavailable to adequately provision wards, then these talks may well have a beneficial effect.

Regards,

kev35