[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by lettie

If any one of you found yourself doing an 11 hour night shift and had no tea break because it was too busy and there was nobody there to cover you, would you not moan?

These working conditions are a daily occurrence within the NHS. Nursing staff are tired and demoralised so therefore there are high levels of sickness amongst staff, which adds to the problem.

How on earth anyone can be expected to work efficiently when they must so obviously be tired working under those sort of conditions is beyond me.

Tired people are more likely to make mistakes. I know I do when I'm tired. You can't think as clearly and reaction times are slower.

We have rules about drinking and driving because judgemnt etc is impaired. There are also signs on motorways saying "Tiredness kills - take a break." and telling people to stop and take a nap. And yet here we have people in whose hands we place our lives and they are being overworked to the point where their judgment etc MUST be affected by tiredness.

It's crazy.

I have a personal hatred of paperwork and red tape since my days of filling in numerous "returns" which basically only repeated the same information instead of being able to get on with doing the job I as being paid for.