Agency ban

suzanne4, RN · Aug 13, 2005

This happens all of the time in the US. It comes and goes, depending on administrations moods and mood swings.

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2005

Things are so bad in our Trust that we have had our staffing numbers cut on a daily basis and we are now down to

2+2 early shift from 3+3 and the + person may be a 1st yr student

2+1 late shift from 2+2

Told the trust is bankrupted and they are looking for 550 redundancies.

No agency until last min, if at all.

We have vacancies but not allowed to recruit since last year. We have to loose 2 more whole time equivelents.

What on earth is going on, I feel the NHS is now definatly on it's last legs.

The student nurses who have just qualified have no jobs because the trust cant employ no money-most of them cant travel out of area because of commitmments and so are looking for jobs elsewhere, like supermarkets.

Patient care is going to suffer big time, we are a rehab ward but we can only offer medical care because we haven't the time to rehab the patients.

Staff moral is rock bottom

krob0729 · Aug 13, 2005

Things are so bad in our Trust that we have had our staffing numbers cut on a daily basis and we are now down to
2+2 early shift from 3+3 and the + person may be a 1st yr student
2+1 late shift from 2+2
Told the trust is bankrupted and they are looking for 550 redundancies.
No agency until last min, if at all.
We have vacancies but not allowed to recruit since last year. We have to loose 2 more whole time equivelents.
What on earth is going on, I feel the NHS is now definatly on it's last legs.
The student nurses who have just qualified have no jobs because the trust cant employ no money-most of them cant travel out of area because of commitmments and so are looking for jobs elsewhere, like supermarkets.
Patient care is going to suffer big time, we are a rehab ward but we can only offer medical care because we haven't the time to rehab the patients.
Staff moral is rock bottom

excuse my ignorance :uhoh21: but what is the + in the 2+2 is that 2nurses to 2 pts or 4 nurses or what? thanks for the info.

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2005

excuse my ignorance :uhoh21: but what is the + in the 2+2 is that 2nurses to 2 pts or 4 nurses or what? thanks for the info.

No problem it means 2 qualified nurses RN and 2 unqualified nurses HCSW

You always have to have 2 RN's on duty at least.

We dont have patient nurse ratios, on some wards you could have more than 8 patients to one trained nurse. :uhoh21:

The numbers indicate total number of nurses on duty per shift

krob0729 · Aug 13, 2005

No problem it means 2 qualified nurses RN and 2 unqualified nurses HCSW
You always have to have 2 RN's on duty at least.
We dont have patient nurse ratios, on some wards you could have more than 8 patients to one trained nurse. :uhoh21:
The numbers indicate total number of nurses on duty per shift

are the unqualified nurses HCSW 's what we call nurse aide's here or what? Thank you for explaining. I love learning how things work in different cultures.

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2005

Yes they have no formal qualifications but are encouraged to do some. They can do patient care and base line observations. Lots of them are fantastic and I dont know what i would do without them on many shifts.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Aug 13, 2005

I used to work at a hospital which on the ward we had 27 patients 2 RN's and 2-3 health care workers for the whole shift, 2 teams and very regularly managed to get lunch break but generally only took the time to eat the meal before going back. was only day shift where there was 3 RN's but 1 RN generally did the rounds with the doctors.

Staffing is just getting worse. Management aren't bothered but staff and patients are at risk :angryfire

uk_nurse · Aug 13, 2005

on our ward 23 bedded paeds we regularly have 2+1. if we have to go to theatre we have to try and get someone to come across from the other paeds ward to cover for a few mins. hence only 2 trained staff = no break in a 14 hr shift!!! :rolleyes: i am now going to uni to do my HV course in sept and im so relieved i wont have to work under these hospital conditions no more.

expatnurse · Aug 14, 2005

Things are so bad in our Trust that we have had our staffing numbers cut on a daily basis and we are now down to
2+2 early shift from 3+3 and the + person may be a 1st yr student
2+1 late shift from 2+2
Told the trust is bankrupted and they are looking for 550 redundancies.
No agency until last min, if at all.
We have vacancies but not allowed to recruit since last year. We have to loose 2 more whole time equivelents.
What on earth is going on, I feel the NHS is now definatly on it's last legs.
The student nurses who have just qualified have no jobs because the trust cant employ no money-most of them cant travel out of area because of commitmments and so are looking for jobs elsewhere, like supermarkets.
Patient care is going to suffer big time, we are a rehab ward but we can only offer medical care because we haven't the time to rehab the patients.
Staff moral is rock bottom

It sounds like you are at my last placement. :uhoh3:

theuknurse · Aug 19, 2005

This is happening in the majority of Trusts, the trust I not long left is constantly stopping bank and agency staff from doing shifts and the regular staff are only to do bank shifts at the lowest scale they pay for qualified staff.

The new trust I work for hasnot yet started to do this but they are looking at making redundant at least 200 staff in an attempt to balance books

ClaireMacl · Sep 1, 2005

I found out yesterday why we aren't able to book agency, our hospital has a £7,000,000 debt they need to reduce by April and want to get £3,000,000 from the emergency department alone!

Money versus patient care, I know which way I'd go, but geez, I'm not a manager, thankfully :uhoh21: