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"Concerned about overworked staff"

About: Dr Gray's Hospital / Respiratory Medicine (Breathing and Lung Problems)

(as a service user),

I had to have a stay in Dr Grays Hospital after being admitted through the A&E department.  I have absolutely no complaints about my care, my concerns are about the overworked staff who are clearly totally exhausted and deflated.  I have previously worked at the decline in recent years.  Entry to the ward showed corridors full of equipment, laundry etc,  is there not a store room?  One nurse was on their knees exhausted after a 12 hour shift with no breaks, hardly any drinks with the thoughts of leaving the profession.   A shocking waste of nurses time was spent looking for the red folders and equipment.  Can the stats machine not be made computerised to avoid this?  I had to be on oxygen for a while but there was only one portable cylinder for the whole of the ward which would have to go to other patients needing to go for tests or even the toilet! More often than not it was taken off my bed.  At one point I was given the emergency oxygen cylinder because there was really nothing else.  The nebuliser was also taken from me as there was not enough.  There wasn’t enough water jugs to go round,  most of the time it was a disposable plastic cup on our tables with water in it,  easily knocked over and not environmentally friendly.  Can the volunteers not come back?  This would relieve a little pressure on the staff with regards to the tea rounds. The pharmacy I was told,  is not open at the weekend,  this could mean that,  yet again, the nurses suffer by having to get together medication sometimes having to go to other wards to get this.  Surely Dr Grays is big enough to have the pharmacy open 7 days?   I feel so sorry for the loyal hard working, underpaid staff who are trying to keep it together but unless the management get an urgent plan of action with immediate affect I fear we will lose more of these fantastic workers.

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Responses

Response from Diane Vass, Nurse Manager Medicine & Unscheduled Care, Dr Grays Hospital, NHS Grampian 2 years ago
Diane Vass
Nurse Manager Medicine & Unscheduled Care, Dr Grays Hospital,
NHS Grampian
Submitted on 17/11/2021 at 23:47
Published on Care Opinion at 23:47


picture of Diane Vass

‘Dear Lm21,

Thank you for sharing your experience of your time at Dr Gray’s, there are many points you’ve raised that are of deep concern for us too and I’m sorry they cast a shadow over the care you received whilst in hospital.

There are a huge amount of pressures in the system just now – not just affecting the staff you can see in the wards, but in every part of the NHS, from IT, who have input into computerising systems and estates who would help create storage for equipment.

Unfortunately we currently have an increased absence rate due to staff requiring to have COVID testing and await their result, this has an impact on the staff still at work - sometimes causing further staff sickness due to stress. When the whole system is under pressure, as it is at the moment, staff have to prioritise basic care for patients over everything else. I can only apologise this was so apparent during your stay. It would be sensible for us to look further into the issues you witnessed on the ward to see if there is anything we can do to support staff and wondered if you would be willing to contact us to share more details including the ward you were admitted to. You can contact me on email diane.vass@nhs.scot or by telephone 07787151978.

In the meantime I will contact the ward to check if there is an issue with water jugs and disposable cups and place an order as required.

Thank you again for raising this with us.

Take care

Diane

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