24
Nov 2020
Dangerously understaffed NHS wards found at centre of second wave
CQC inspectors found just two nurses responsible for 36 patients on a ward at Liverpool University Hospitals Trust, and vulnerable patients at the centre of England’s coronavirus second wave have been left without help to eat or drink because wards are so dangerously understaffed.
Dozens of safety concerns have been reported by nurses and doctors at the trust since April, with the lack of nursing staff being cited as a key patient safety risk.
Across several wards, two registered nurses per ward were being expected to care for dozens of sick patients, a ratio of nurses to patients far below recommended safe levels. One ward had 36 patients being looked after by two registered nurses, with the nurse in charge of the ward having only qualified six months earlier.
Mike Adams, director for England of the Royal College of Nursing, said “Nursing staff and their senior leaders are now being made to work in impossible situations. Staffing levels this poor undoubtedly put lives at risk but also put the professional registration and safety of experienced nurses in jeopardy.”
He said the concerns were “another reminder that steps should have been taken to mitigate the workforce crisis in England have been consistently missed.”
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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.
Freephone : 0800 304 7382
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