NI health: Nursing staff levels creating 'unacceptable risk'

Staffing levels within the health service in Northern Ireland are creating an "unacceptable risk" for staff and patients, a nurse has said.

Denise Kelly, a nurse coordinator at Antrim Area Hospital, said nurses were missing breaks and working overtime to help keep services safe.

Health Minister Robin Swann said he was "keenly aware of the pressures".

It comes as the nurses' union the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) ballots members for strike action.

The RCN is recommending its 300,000 UK members walk out in a dispute about pay, with the result of the ballot due next month.

The union said that if the action went ahead it would affect non-urgent but not emergency care.

Ms Kelly has been working as a nurse for 30 years.

She described "firefighting" her way through 12-hour shifts due to the shortage of staff and spoke of the cost-of-living crisis affecting nurses to the extent that one colleague could not afford nappies and another had to sleep in their car.

"The current NHS staffing crisis is causing an unacceptable risk, not only to our patients but to our staff as well," she told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme.

"As a result of that we are haemorrhaging staff."

She said the pressure meant many colleagues were leaving work in tears and feeling demoralised.

"The stress, the pressure - we want to do the best by our patients, we're not getting the right support," she said.

"There's not enough staffing levels to enable us to do this.

"It's affecting their mental health and they're leaving and doing a job with less pressure, less stress.

"It's absolutely soul destroying."

Staff pay

Ms Kelly said that because of the cost-of-living crisis many nurses were having to use foodbanks, with one saying she could not afford to buy nappies for her child.

The RCN has been calling for a pay rise of 5% above the Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation rate of 12%.

In England and Wales, NHS staff are being given an average of 4.75% more, while in Scotland 5% has been given.

But in Northern Ireland nurses are yet to receive a pay increase.

Ms Kelly said: "One of our student nurses slept in his car because he couldn't afford to pay for fuel to travel to placements each day.

"We were able to get a hardship fund and get him referred for support but I'd say he was just the brave one to speak out.

"There's probably many other people in similar situations.

"Our nursing staff in England and Wales have received a pay award in their September salaries, which nurses in Northern Ireland are not getting because we have no functioning executive [at Stormont].

"That is despicable that nearly three years after taking strike action for the first time ever in Northern Ireland we are back in exactly the same position."

Mr Swann, the health minister, said pressure on the health service that was previously felt during winter peaks are now a "recurring theme throughout the year".

"This is not a problem that is unique to Northern Ireland," he said.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has ravaged health systems that were already struggling under the weight of demographic change, budgetary limitations and staffing challenges."

Mr Swann warned that "there is no quick fix" and he appealed for people to use services appropriately to ease the pressure on the system.

He Swann added: "The task is certainly not helped by the continuing absence of a Northern Ireland budget and the significant projected overspend facing my department."