THE ROYAL College of Nursing has raised concerns over staff welfare at Warrington Hospital after a relative of one nurse said she regularly comes home in tears due to the pressures of her job.

The college has said that while nationally nurse welfare is below par Warrington Hospital ‘struggles more than most’ and has high levels of staff sickness.

The concerned relative says the nurse in question, who didn’t wish to be identified, often has to look after up to 16 patients.

He said: “There have been many days when she has come home in tears due to the pressures she is under and the number of patients she has in her care.

“For a staff nurse to be paid £21k per year and have to look after 12 to 16 patients for me, is more than unreasonable and potentially dangerous.

“She rallies through and her caring instincts kick in as at the forefront of her mind is patient care, and no matter how good a nurse she is or those around her many patients will have their care at a substandard level.

“The volume of patients is not the only issue to address, it’s also the working hours.

“During a 12 hour shift, which she often does, there is a duty of care to her and a legal obligation I to have two half hour breaks.

“Nine times out of ten she does not get her first break until late afternoon, around 3pm, when her shift starts around 7.30am and never gets her second break.

“For me, that is disgusting – I think it’s just become the norm with those around her and so is adopted by all.

“Someone who has no breaks and cannot have a bottle of water to keep hydrated on the ward is inevitably going to fail due their energy levels, yet it is the nurse who will be struck off.”

Estephanie Dunn, Royal College of Nursing regional director for the North West, said that nurses shouldn’t have to care for more than eight patients and that there could be a link between nurses not taking breaks and levels of staff sickness.

She said: “Figures from the Trusts safe staffing report for April show staffing levels that are less than optimal, and although all trusts have challenges with staffing Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust seem to be struggling more than most. “The Trust says the reason for this is a high level of vacancies in some divisions, and also a spike in staff sickness.

“Sadly, there is a national shortage of registered nurses but the Royal College of Nursing would generally consider anything in excess of one member of staff to eight patients to be unsafe, and one to 16 would certainly not be safe for either patients or staff.

“All Trusts have set break times for staff but there will be slippage when staffing is under pressure.

“Nurses will always tend to prioritise patient care over their own need and in the long term this does contribute to high levels of staff sickness which exacerbates the problem.

“The Royal College of Nursing would expect any staff with concerns about either patient safety or undue stress at work to raise the issues either directly to their managers or to seek Royal College of Nursing support to do so.

“Our senior officers have regular meetings with directors of nursing which is an opportunity to discuss any current concerns, and I will ensure that safe staffing is a priority item at the next meeting.”

Karen Dawber, director of nursing and governance at Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We are committed to supporting and looking after our staff who do such a fantastic role in caring for our patients at the hospitals each and every day.

"When the CQC inspected our hospitals in Jnauary they found that wards were suitably staffed and we set out our staffing levels based on national tools and standards, monitoring and measuring levels continually.

"If there are issues on particular wards due to sickness then we work to flex our staffing and use qualified bank and agency staff to cover any gaps.

"We are also continually recruiting to long term vacancies at the hospitals.

"The Royal College of Nursing have confirmed to us they do not have any specific concerns about staff welfare at the hospitals.

"If any staff member has an issue they want to raise that they don't want to discuss directly we are signed up to the Speak Out Safely campaign where any concerns can be raised completely anonoymously for us to look at."