Hospital staff send memo to managers: 'Help'

By REBECCA WALSH

Nurses at North Shore Hospital's emergency department are signing letters each day saying they cannot guarantee patient safety as they struggle with staff shortages and a growing workload.

In a letter to hospital management the New Zealand Nurses Organisation said that one day last month the department had 96 patients for its 54-bed unit and "this is by no means a one-off example". At the time it had 18 full-time equivalent vacancies.

Nurses were regularly carrying excessive workloads and some patients had to wait days before they could be admitted to a ward. Patient beds were lining corridors, which breached their dignity and privacy.

The same form letter is likely to be used by nurses at Middlemore Hospital. Nurses working in the medical and surgical wards at Auckland City Hospital signed similar letters late last year and again at the beginning of this year.

Yesterday Carol Brown, NZNO organiser for North Shore, said none of the issues was new but despite numerous meetings with management little had changed. Figures supplied by the district health board in June showed there were 85 full-time equivalent vacancies out of 922 at North Shore.

The letter put staff concerns on the record and provided them with cover should something go wrong.

"The workload at the [emergency department] doesn't stop at 5pm. It's about resourcing the hospital right through," she said.

"Nurses are crying in the corridors. There's real distress being felt that they are not able to provide the standard of care they wish."

Ms Brown said the form letter provided a more instant and easy way to let management know what was happening than existing incident forms, which were time consuming and often did not result in change.

A North Shore Hospital emergency department nurse said staff were fed-up and at least 10 letters had been completed each day since August 26.

"We want to make a statement to management. They have to do something; they just can't keep loading us up like this."

The nurse said management were well aware of the difficulties nurses faced and during the day tried to help out with patient food or by pushing beds. On bad nights pizzas often turned up.

When a very sick elderly man fell out of bed and suffered a head injury it made nurses realise how vulnerable they were. He was found lying on the floor. The man later died, but not from the injury.

On top of that there had been regular problems with the payroll system; she had received only one correct pay since April.

The Waitemata District Health Board said every endeavour was being made to ensure staff could provide safe care at all times.

The influx of patients over the past four weeks had made that more challenging than normal. The emergency department was short staffed and staff sickness and turnover had made the situation more difficult.

Chan Dixon, NZNO organiser for Counties Manukau, said she would talk to delegates of similarly stressed Middlemore staff about using the letter next week.

Ms Brown said nurses union representatives would meet management on Monday.


Overflowing Hospital

On August 25 between 7pm and 7am at North Shore Hospital's emergency department:11 nurses were looking after 8 to 12 patients each

42 patients for 25 acute beds

All corridor spaces filled

14 patients awaiting ward beds

2 patients had been waiting more than 36 hours

2 patients needing 1 to 1 care

4 patients needing isolation

(Source: New Zealand Nurses Organisation)