More than a fifth of the country’s nurses and midwives have attended their GP with work-related stress, a new survey by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has found.
The research, published as the union’s conference gets under way at Croke Park in Dublin, found that large numbers believe overcrowding and short-staffing in hospitals are impacting on their wellbeing, as well as that of patients.
Almost 70 per cent of respondents said they believed their work is impacting on their general health, with 55 per cent suggesting they were always or very often physically exhausted as a result of it.
More than 40 per cent said their jobs took a psychological toll with more than half of those, 21 per cent, saying they had felt the need to attend their own doctor for stress.
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One of the issues, the research suggests, is pressure felt to work additional hours, with 54 per cent saying this is something they experience.
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Staffing levels featured prominently in the research, with 76 per cent suggesting numbers and the available skills mix were insufficient to meet needs in their workplace. Almost all of those, 92 per cent, said the problem actually puts patient safety under threat.
Overall, almost two thirdssaid they had considered leaving the job recently, with almost half of those citing the demands involved and related stress.
The results “very clearly show that nurses and midwives are struggling in today’s health service”, said the union’s president Karen McGowan.
She said many the challenges presented by the pandemic were still fresh in the minds of many nurses, and some were still grappling with the long-term effects of Covid.
“Meanwhile the Government has failed to make progress on hospital overcrowding, and conditions for staff and patients in many places has got far worse than we could have imagined.
“Not only is this situation not sustainable, but it is painfully clear from these survey results that the Irish health service and its staff are not in a position to ensure another crisis. These services and the people working in them, are hanging by a thread, and it’s frightening to think what would happen if they had to withstand another serious shock.”
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General secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said the survey findings were clear evidence of the need for additional action by the Government in relation to emergency departments and other aspects of the health service.
“We have clear data on the impact of unsafe staffing on patient outcomes; we have data on the relationship between overcrowding and whether or not patients will survive; and here we have clear figures saying nurses and midwives are extremely stressed, working unpaid hours, and leaving their jobs. The failure to act on very clear data is simply irresponsible.”
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