‘Broken’ nurses warn of panic assaults and nightmares underneath NHS employees shortages
Workforce shortages mean staff are burning out and feel forced to keep working when they are ill, according to a shocking survey by the Royal College of Nursing
Nurses are being left sick and “broken” by chronic understaffing in NHS hospitals and care homes, a bombshell survey warns today.
Workforce shortages are causing people to suffer nightmares and panic attacks, while staff feel forced to keep working when they are ill, according to the Royal College of Nursing.
The union said it was receiving dozens of calls a week from burnt out staff, and its advice line is on course for the highest number of calls this year since 2022.
Its survey of more than 20,000 UK nursing staff found two thirds (66%) admitted to working while ill multiple times a year, up from fewer than half (49%) in 2017.
Stress is the biggest cause of illness given by staff (65.1%), up from 50% in 2017. The numbers reporting working whilst sick and citing stress as the main cause both hit eight-year highs.
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Some 70% are working beyond their contracted hours at least once a week, around half (52.1%) of whom do so unpaid.
NHS figures for June show the overall sickness absence rate for NHS staff in England was 4.9%, around one in 20 members of staff.
The figure was 5.3% for nurses and health visitors, while it was 5.7% among midwives and 5.4% among ambulance staff.
Overall, 29% of full-time equivalent days that were lost to sickness among NHS staff in June were due to anxiety and/or stress, including 28% among nurses.
One NHS staff nurse in England told the RCN they developed a chronic illness related to stress but could not leave work “due to the department being overwhelmed and overstretched and not wanting to add to that”.
Another took sick leave due to the stress of understaffing, but continued to have nightmares.
A staff nurse in an independent care home said they dreaded “going to work knowing we’d be short staffed” and will “inevitably have to work over my hours, unpaid, just to get everything done”.
An NHS community nurse in England said dealing with the amount of patients and paperwork was like “fighting fire with my hands tied behind my back”.
Another nurse in England said her ward was so unsafe she felt scared to go to work.
A nurse working in social care in England said staffing levels were so low that they could not leave to use the toilet.
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Professor Nicola Ranger, said: “Nursing staff are being driven to ill health from working in understaffed and under-resourced services.
“And what’s worse, many feel they cannot take time off for fear of leaving their colleagues at the mercy of brutal pressures. This simply isn’t sustainable.
“Nursing staff strive to do their best for every patient on every shift, but they are left with the impossible task of caring for dozens and sometimes over a hundred at a time.
“This is hugely detrimental to patient outcomes, but there also needs to be action to address the devastating impact on staff themselves.
“The reality is they’re not breaking; many are already broken.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We hugely value the work of talented nurses, and through our 10-year health plan we are taking action to improve conditions for the overworked and demoralised workforce we inherited.
“That includes rolling out high-quality occupational health support, introducing new staff standards to make sure flexible working is more widely available, and cracking down on violence, racism, and sexual harassment in the workplace
“We are also providing better job opportunities for qualified nurses and midwives with a new graduate guarantee to make sure thousands of new posts are easier to access, helping to further reduce the burden on existing staff.”
