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Cllr Charlie Hedges |
NURSES IN CRISIS AT THE FREE
Morale at an all-time low at troubled hospital
MORALE among staff at the Royal Free Hospital has plumbed
new depths with nurses considering their future in the profession,
the New Journal has learned.
Some nurses have talked about giving up on the National Health
Service altogether after facing up to the prospect of re-applying
for their jobs at the hospital in Pond Street, Hampstead.
The mounting stress is also affecting student medics who are
worried that they might not get the chance to finish their training
as the hospital prepares to axe nearly 500 jobs and scrap at
least 100 patients beds.
Worst of all, there are fresh fears that cases of the deadly
hospital superbug MRSA will rise as surviving staff struggle
to provide services.
The string of warnings came last night (Wednesday) from veteran
Labour councillor Charlie Hedges as he told of his experience
inside the crisis-hit Royal Free.
The throat cancer and MRSA survivor has been in and out of the
hospital for the past six weeks and was only discharged late
on Tuesday night.
He said the pressure was already beginning to tell on staff
after a spell in the Crayshaw Ward – one of four units
that will be mothballed.
In an interview with the New Journal, Cllr Hedges, former deputy
leader of Camden Council, said that staff had told him that
the ward would close next week and that they did not know where
they would be working from then on.
He said: “There was one nurse who told me that she had
three weeks left to go of her training. She was just hoping
that she could get two weeks somewhere else in the hospital
after the ward closes so that she can get qualified. There are
staff who don’t know whether they are going to be qualified.”
Cllr Hedges has been receiving treatment for blood poisoning
in his leg and is now recovering at his home in Ainsworth Way,
Kilburn.
He said: “The staff are under pressure. Everybody is so
down. Morale is low. They don’t know what to expect next.
It then affects the patients. I said to one nurse to ‘cheer
up’ and she said that she didn’t know what was coming
next. There are some staff thinking about packing it in. The
people that saw me – the doctors, the nurses – were
excellent, you can’t fault them. But you need more of them
and less management consultants.”
Cllr Hedges – the first patient to go on record about life
inside the hospital since the cutbacks were announced last month
– described how he was in a ward with four other men. One
man was left in an armchair all day, he said. Others were incontinent
and staff struggled to keep tabs on what was going on.
He said: “In the morning, the ward would smell bad. I was
the only one who could use the toilet properly. The staff would
try to clean up but there was so much to do, washing patients
and cleaning bedding. One nurse began work at eight in the morning
and kept on going until one in the afternoon without a single
break. On Tuesday they said to me that I could go home with
some pills. It took six hours for them to get the pills to me.
All the time I was just waiting in a bed.”
Cllr Hedges was among campaigners who urged the hospital to
clean up its act six years ago after catching MRSA. He survived
the superbug but is worried future patients will be threatened.
Cllr Hedges said: “It did get better at the hospital but
I’m worried about cleanliness. MRSA will be the first thing
to hit if standards start to fall because of the cuts. I don’t
believe in throwing money at the problem but there must be better
co-ordination between the hospital, staff, council and Primary
Care Trust.”
Cllr Hedges added that he was worried Camden’s social services
would pick up the cost of treating patients at home if they
are sent home too soon.
Nobody in the Royal Free’s press department was available
for comment yesterday (Wednesday) but Carole Holroyd, director
of nursing, said staff on the Crayshaw ward would get a clearer
picture next week.
She said: “The patients will be moved to general medical
wards – and there is work being done so some of the patients
will be able to be treated through day care. We have redesigned
the way the wards work so the patients can be treated in other
areas of the hospital.”
Ms Holroyd added: “In regards to the staff, for the displaced
staff we are looking at where the other vacancies are. There
will be no redundancies. Hopefully they will be working in the
specialities they already are in and hopefully every one will
get to do what they want. Next week we will have a clearer picture
where staff want to go after staff consultation finishes.”
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