Plight of the Nurses

TAKING THE PLIGHT OF THE NURSES TO THE PUBLIC

Telling it as it is
remains our responsibility as a nursing organisation.
Wear your pins – tell it like it is!

 

We are short staffed and everyone knows that, but what has happened and how bad it is needs to be understood. Lets look at the actual figures according to the Health Systems Trust Health Review 2003\2004:

• Between 2001 and 2003 the workload of the public sector has grown. The number of people with Medical Aid has shrunk from 17% in 1997 to 15.2% in 2002.

More patient load!

• From 2001 and 2003 the public sector lost 99,001 (37%) posts. Fewer Nurses! (More detail in Nursing Update February 2005).
• Add to this loss, the 31.1% vacancies in the South African health sector, which translates into 52 574 vacant posts (See table 1).

On a daily basis nurses are doing things that are outside their Scope of Practice because there aren’t enough nurses and doctors to fulfill all the roles and functions in the work situation. There are vacant posts, people on annual leave or maternity leave, sick leave or stress leave, or maybe a domestic problem – it doesn’t matter, there just never seem to be enough people to do the work. So at the end of a 12 plus hour shift, many head for home tired and frustrated because they feel that they haven’t really fulfilled their nursing role today – they have run from pillar to post making sure that just the basics were done!

Lets talk about the problems! Let the public understand our daily struggle.

• EXTRA WORK LOAD HURTS
• QUALITY CARE NEEDS MORE NURSES
• NO TOOLS NO QUALITY CARE
• MORE NURSES = BETTER CARE

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