Letters: Nurses reply to Mary Dejevsky, and Iggy Pop’s sherry habit

Nursing standards

Sir: I share Mary Dejevsky’s concern regarding the impact of tired, overworked nurses on the quality of patient care (‘Short shrift for long shifts’, 6 October). However, it is unwarranted to blame nurses for detrimental work cultures when the contributing factors are complex. Nurses generally do not have a choice about the length of shifts they work. Shift lengths must be determined by patient needs and safety, and 12-hour shifts can be an essential part of their job, but hours of unpaid overtime where they cannot deliver care effectively and safely leave nurses burnt out and demoralised.

The Royal College of Nursing’s research showed that nurses are dealing with increasing workloads, lack of support from managers and, crucially, the inability to deliver the kind of care they would like. Over 80 per cent of nurses surveyed said that they had gone to work despite feeling too ill to do so because of their commitment to patients and overworked colleagues.