RCN releases last shift survey revealing extent of staffing crisis 

New data from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) released today shines a light on the impact of the nurse staffing crisis across Wales.

Only one in five nurses in Wales say they have had enough time to provide the level of care to patients that they would like to, a new RCN Survey reveals. In March 2022, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) invited nursing and midwifery staff to tell us about their experiences of the last time they were at work.

 Four in five respondents (78%) felt that patient care being compromised was due to not having enough registered nurses on the shift.

In addition, three quarters of respondents reported a shortfall of at least one registered nurse on their shift (68%, compared to 57% in 2020). The majority were working with 50-74% of the planned number of registered nurses for that shift.

In Wales, even on shifts where 100% of planned registered nurses were present, almost one in three (30%) respondents reported necessary care being left undone due to a lack of time.

At the College’s first in-person Congress since the pandemic, over 2,000 frontline nursing staff will participate in the event in Glasgow to address the issues facing the profession.

Helen Whyley, Director, RCN Wales, said: “It is saddening yet not surprising that over half of our nurses in Wales are feeling demoralised. They are telling us that only 32% of shifts had the full number of planned registered nurses (RNs) on shift. We have safe nursing legislation here in Wales which has undoubtedly contributed to positive outcomes for patients. We want to see the legislation extended to other clinical areas including mental health and the community.

We know that having the right number of appropriately qualified, competent, and experienced nurses protects both the public and the nursing profession. The Welsh Government needs to take action to address the responses from this survey. We need more nurses in Wales. We need fair pay, flexible working conditions and continuing professional development.

These issues will not go away, and the government need to invest in nursing to ensure the safety of our patients in Wales.”

Sister, NHS A&E department, Wales, said: ‘On my last shift patients who were waiting outside of hospitals in ambulances missed getting their medication. In addition, patients were deteriorating in the waiting area with insufficient skin care and toileting breaks. It was unacceptable, I wouldn’t want my family cared for here. We did our best, but it just wasn’t good enough.”

Sister, NHS hospital, Wales, said: “I feel demoralised and chronically stressed due to the immense workload placed upon me. Priority of care throughout my career has been used in the sense of prioritising the work I do according to the highest risks being managed first but with the assurance that all the fundamentals of care are maintained thoroughly. I feel the priority of care has now changed to managing high risks first but without the assurance that the fundamentals of care are maintained. Life as a nurse feels like one huge risk that also feels like an "accident waiting to happen"”

At its annual RCN Congress today in Glasgow, the RCN will hear how its members’ experiences demonstrate the ‘unacceptable risk’ posed to patient care and call on members to be vigilant in sounding the alarm in their care settings regarding patient safety and poor staffing levels.

In the Last Shift survey of almost 1,000 nursing and midwifery staff conducted by the RCN in March 2022, members were asked to report on the staffing levels on their last shift.

Ends

Notes to editors

• Only 32% of shifts in Wales had the full number of planned registered nurses (RNs) on shift
• Only 28% of respondents said that the nursing skill mix (the number and educational experience of nurses working in clinical settings) was appropriate to meet the needs and dependency of patients safely and effectively. 69% of respondents said it was not appropriate.
• Only around one in five (17%) respondents, in Wales, agreed they had enough time to provide the level of care they would like
• Only around half of respondents in Wales said that students held supernumerary status (52%), 40% said they did not. Supernumerary status means that education standards require that they are not to be counted in workforce numbers while learning, due to the risk to student and patients of them being counted as clinical staff
• 63% of respondents in Wales reported that patient care was compromised on their last shift
• Around four in five respondents (78%) of respondents to the survey in Wales felt that patient care being compromised was due to not having enough registered nurses on the shift
• The survey received 974 responses from nursing and midwifery staff working in different settings across Wales.
• In 2021 the RCN secured the Welsh Government’s commitment to extend section 25B of the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016 to children’s inpatient wards. The College is now campaigning to challenge the Welsh Government to extend safe staffing legislation into community, mental health, and care homes.