AN NHS survey shows staff believe patients are at risk of receiving poor care due to persistent shortages, says Royal College of Nursing.

The national NHS Staff Survey was carried out between September and November last year.

Published this week, the findings from the annual research reveal that in some NHS hospitals and health trusts in Sussex only 14.2 per cent nurses believe there are enough staff for them to do their job properly.  

Participants were asked to respond to “there are enough staff at this organisation for me to do my job properly”. 

Here are the percentages of registered nurses and midwives who said they “strongly agree or agree”.

  • Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust 22.9 per cent (2020)
  • East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust 33.2 per cent (2020) to 20 per cent (2021)
  • Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Trust 53.8 per cent (2020) to 33.6 per cent (2021)
  • Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust 44.6 per cent (2020) to 21.7 per cent (2021)
  • Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust 30.4 per cent (2020) to 21.9 per cent (2021)
  • Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust 28.8 per cent (2020) to 21.7 per cent (2021)
  • Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 35 per cent (2020)
  • University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust 14.2 per cent (2021)

Dr Sheila Marriott, interim regional director of the RCN in the south east, said: “When nurses say there are too few staff for them to do their job properly, the government need to sit up and listen. 

“The number of nurses simply isn’t keeping pace with the demand. Nurses are exhausted and demoralised – imagine trying to look after patients when you don’t have enough colleagues to help you. Care can be left undone and patient safety may be compromised.

“Hospitals and other care providers are working hard to recruit and retain enough nurses to fill the gaps, but they’ve been frustrated by the government ducking its responsibility to ensure a sufficient supply of staff for years. There isn’t a quick fix for this. 

“There is no law on safe staffing – the government could change this in the Health and Care Bill going through Parliament now, but they are persistently ignoring the glaring omission to have accountability for workforce planning and supply, as part of service and financial planning. 

“The government must commit to delivering and funding a workforce plan for the long term that guarantees there are enough nursing staff in the health and care system to provide patients with consistently safe and effective care.”  

Meanwhile, the survey results also reveal fewer nursing staff in Sussex are satisfied with their level of pay than they were a year ago.

The RCN says the low satisfaction rates show how undervalued many nursing staff were feeling even before the government proposed a pay rise of only two to three per cent for NHS workers this summer – below the current inflation rate and, in effect, a pay cut.  

David Grantham, chief people officer for University Hospitals Sussex said: “All across the country, Trusts are dealing with staffing issues, with absence from work due to Covid increasing pressure on colleagues.

"It has been a very challenging year for everyone across the Trust and our teams have been working at their maximum to care for our patients.

“The recruitment of high quality healthcare professsionals to join our great teams at UHSussex is a priority for us and in fact we have more staff than ever before.

"In the past year we have recruited 500 international nurses and since November 2021 more than 750 people have joined the Trust.

"We have also established a new nursing school in partnership with the University of Chichester.

"The work our staff do, day in, day out is incredible and we continue to look at ways in which we can help them through these unprecedented times.”