MORE than nine in ten nurses claim they are too rushed to provide proper patient care.
NHS workers say chronic understaffing is making it almost impossible to do their job well – at the expense of sick Brits.
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Research by Nursing Standard reveals many are working through breaks or late to finish their tasks.
The findings are based on a poll of more than 2,000 nurses.
It shows four in five have complained to their employer about short staffing.
And 94 per cent say it has affected the care and treatment they provide to patients.
One nurse responding to the research said: “Care in the profession has gone… [we’re] only interested in getting beds emptied for emergencies to come in.
“I’m unable to give good-quality care on a daily basis.” Another warned: “Patients’ well-being is the last thing on the system’s agenda.”
Unions claim the NHS currently faces a critical shortage of nurses, with trusts 42,000 posts empty.
Dame Donna Kinnair, from the Royal College of Nursing, said: “It’s hard to find a member of nursing staff, no matter where they work, who isn’t affected by unsafe staffing.
“These results make clear that current conditions cannot continue – whether in the NHS or beyond.”
Regulator the Nursing and Midwifery Council regulator requires members to escalate any potentially harmful incidents.
But one in ten nurses said they would not report any colleagues who had blundered as a result of short staffing.
One nurse said: “The trust would put all the blame on the colleague rather than resolve the staffing issue, as it has done again and again for years.”
It comes as a second survey reveals two in three GPs and community nurses feel Brexit will worsen medicine shortages.
