Letter: Thinking of patients over shift plans
I stopped working in the NHS just short of two years ago. One of the main reasons for this was being compromised because of the short shifts and nursing change-overs.
Vital care was not being administered and nursing staff did not have the time needed to forge patient-nurse relationships (which is necessary to spot declines in health) and, additionally, they had no time to understand their patients' conditions well enough to provide adequate (when it should be excellent) nursing care.
I have been unfortunate enough to have a close relative receiving care in these two hospitals and by far the best care received by my father was by a specialist unit within Shrewsbury where the staff worked 12.5-hour shifts.
He had been on three other wards, too, where more often than not the staff who worked shorter shifts and changed over just before visiting times, had not had the time to get to know my father or understand his needs as a patient.
I feel nurses who are questioning this new plan are not actually thinking of their patients, nor the quality of their nursing.
If you think about this carefully, it is the only way forward to enhance nursing care in the county. I look forward to seeing this implemented.
Vee Clarke
Leegomery
