[lettie]

I don't know if bodies have actually been left overnight on wards yet but if this continues, they will be. I have been on night shifts when we have had only 1 porter on duty for the whole hospital. We don't have special mortuary porters, our general porters do everything and believe me, they work extremely hard.

When we have only one porter and somebody dies, a nurse has to help the porter to move anybody who may die. This involves leaving the ward and taking the body to the mortuary which is in a completely different building. There are limited nursing staff around at night so therefore, a busy medical ward may be left with only 2 staff in some cases whilst someone helps the porter.

The reason we may have only 1 porter is due to poor staffing in all departments. The porters are not the only ones suffering, we are losing nurses, midwives, admin, pharmacy, management and medical staff throughout the Trust. This is in order to save money but will it save lives?

We are informed that most staff losses will be through natural wasteage, so people who retire, emigrate or leave because they have had better offers elsewhere will not be replaced. This means that existing staff will have to cover the shortfall by working twice as hard as before. It beggars belief...........The NHS would not function at all if it were not for the good will and camaradarie of the staff. Many of us already go without meal breaks rather than leave patients waiting, many stay on at the end of shifts to help with emergencies but never get paid for it or get to take their time back. There are some shifts which are so busy that you don't even get a cup of tea for the whole shift and I can tell you..... an 11 hour night shift without any food or drink is no fun...