Striking nurses warn staff mental health ‘lowest ever’

Standing on the picket line at Southampton General Hospital, nurses warned staff mental health was the “lowest” they had seen and that morale was at “rock-bottom”.

Today marks the third day of nurse strike action organised by the Royal College of Nursing amid an ongoing row with the government over pay and connected issues of staff shortages and patient safety.

Yesterday, RCN chief executive and general secretary Pat Cullen told Nursing Times nurses would continue to strike for as long as it took to stop the government “turning their backs” on the profession and ignoring their urgent pay and workplace needs.

Concerns for nurse mental health and wellbeing were strong among those striking in Southampton this morning.

Nicole Elderfield, an intensive care nurse who joined the picket line to support colleagues following a night shift, described working as a nurse currently as “chaos”.

This was largely because of staffing challenges and patient demands, she noted.

Ms Elderfield said there had been “no let-up” since the peaks of the coronavirus pandemic and that staff mental health and morale was now the “lowest” she had seen since she qualified in 2014.

“It is not uncommon that we have to send people home if they’re struggling”

Mariana Fonseca

Meanwhile, Sarah Creagh, who also works in intensive care and has been a nurse for 35 years, warned morale was at “rock-bottom”, especially following the pandemic.

Separately, critical care nurse Lucia Medina described the “levels of stress” and “the amount of breakdowns that we see at work every day” among colleagues.

Ms Medina also warned that nurses who had been working alongside her for some time, were now saying they wanted to leave the profession because they “don’t even like it anymore” and they are “getting fed up”.

Lucia Medina (left) and Mariana Fonseca

Her colleague and critical care charge nurse, Mariana Fonseca, said it was “not uncommon that we see people struggling at work” in terms of their mental health.

“Myself, being in charge, we are the first ones to recognise in practice when people sometimes change, and it is because they are struggling with their mental health,” she told Nursing Times.

She added: “It is not uncommon that we have to send people home if they’re struggling.”

Meanwhile, Richard Pester, a stroke trainee advanced clinical practitioner, told Nursing Times he was aware of some nurses who had cited their mental health as the reason for leaving their jobs.

He also explained how the stresses of the job during the Covid-19 pandemic had “caused lots of people to have mental health issues”, including post-traumatic stress disorder.

In describing the recent challenges facing the health service, Mr Pester highlighted ongoing concerns about corridor care in emergency departments and how this had at times made him feel “embarrassed to be a nurse”.

Richard Pester

“I’m worried that what is unacceptable has become acceptable,” he told Nursing Times.

“It is normal now to see a patient on a trolley in a corridor and I just don't like that.”

Critical care nurses Sarah Hearn and Mable Nsingo also joined to support the strikes today following a night shift.

Ms Hearn said she was there because staff in some wards were “on their knees”.

While she felt nurse morale was OK on her unit, she warned: “On other units you can see [staff] breaking.”

Ms Nsingo added that nurses were “getting worn down, emotionally [and] physically” due to ongoing pressures and staffing issues.

Nursing Times is currently asking nurses to complete a short survey about their mental health and wellbeing and the level of support they are receiving in the workplace.

Take part in our latest survey on nurse mental health