By Seyi Babalola
The British government faces a troubling situation where patients are tragically dying alone in hospitals due to severe nursing shortages, as highlighted in a recent report.
In 2023, the government implemented measures aimed at curbing migration to the UK, including restrictions that notably affected international students’ families.
However, a recent study by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) indicates that only about one-third of nursing shifts have sufficient staff.
The report underscores that these shortages often lead to nurses having to manage large numbers of patients simultaneously. Experts are urging the establishment of safety-focused limits on nurse-patient ratios.
A survey conducted among over 11,000 nursing professionals revealed widespread demoralization stemming from the inability to ensure patient safety, according to the RCN.
In both hospital and community settings, only a third of respondents reported that their shifts were staffed with the planned number of registered nurses. Disturbingly, many A&E and outpatient nurses disclosed having to care for more than 51 patients at a time.
A nurse employed in the community in south-west England mentioned that: ‘We have days when we have 60 visits unallocated because we don’t have enough staff. ‘We are always rushing.’
Another in the south of England said: ‘We leave over 50 patients requiring care unseen daily due to poor staffing levels.
‘This leads to increases in hospital admissions and death. It is left to us to decide who gets seen and who gets missed, which is heart-breaking.’
In a hospital in the West Midlands, one nurse said: “I have not been able to sit with patients who are dying, meaning they have been left to die alone.
‘I have not had the time to make sure patients are fed properly and have adequate drinks,” the report indicates.
And a midwife in a hospital in Yorkshire said: “Completely unsafe care due to unacceptable staffing levels.”
RCN acting general secretary Nicola Ranger said nurses are “fighting a losing battle to keep patients safe’ and described staffing levels as ‘dangerous to patients and demoralising for nursing staff’.
“We desperately need urgent investment in the nursing workforce but also to see safety-critical nurse-patient ratios enshrined in law. That is how we improve care and stop patients coming to harm,” she added.
Interestingly, the Nigerian government has instituted a requirement preventing nurses from seeking employment overseas until they have completed at least two years of service post-graduation.
Despite this directive, many nurses are disregarding these regulations due to unsatisfactory working conditions.
Nigerian nurses are actively protesting against new rules that aim to restrict them from working abroad for two years after finishing their training, a measure imposed by authorities to stem the outflow of medical professionals seen across the continent.
In recent days, hundreds of nurses have staged protests at the health regulator’s offices in Abuja and Lagos, demanding the repeal of this policy.
According to a report from the UK Nurses and Midwifery Council (NMC) released in March 2024, the number of Nigerian-trained nurses registered in the UK surged dramatically by 625% in the six months leading up to September 2023.
During this period, 12,099 nurses trained in Nigeria joined the UK workforce, compared to just 1,670 registered nurses during the same timeframe in 2022.
The NMC said: “We’ve seen the number of professionals joining the register for the first time between April and September more than double in the last five years – from 14,311 joiners in the six months to September 2018 to 30,103 in the same period this year.”