NHS

I see that nurses are saying that ward staff levels are at danger level much of the time, how is that?, the government says that it is up to local hospitals to assess staff levels, that is not good enough!, low staffing is when patient safety is at its lowest, lack of food, lack of water = death, that is not acceptable, you, when elderly and even when you are young  should be safe, fed and watered, not left to get on with it,  staffing levels have to be sufficient for a ward to operate to the standards that are set for it, patients are admitted for treatment and then recovery, the very important medication for a patient is good quality food, this aids recovery, but many are allowed to miss this important medicine, leading to longer recovery time, and leaving the patient sicker than they were when they were  admitted, so the weekend arrives 4.30pm or even earlier its a Friday, so time for golf or taking the family away for the weekend, but what about the patients, you have to laugh Friday morning every ward is trying to get rid of every patient possible so there are as few patients as possible for the weekend, patients accept this because they just want to escape from the hospital, they will not often tell you about the way they have been treated, the reason for this is that they are frightened that by saying just what the treatment was really like  if they complained they might receive retribution from the ward staff and consultant the next time they are admitted.
In the CARE profession every day is a care day, I have always worked a shift pattern that included two weekend a month with a chance of being called in if someone went sick, in the care system there are no weekends or bank holidays every shift pattern covers every shift and everyone takes their share of the tough shifts that is what work means, you are being paid to look after the well being of the client, you can't run on less staff than required it just puts great pressure on the staff who just might have to cover for the sick staff member, so the NHS needs to ensure that all wards are sufficiently staffed before we have major health risks to patients, the paper on health suggested that the patient was at the front of the care they received I have to say that is not the case there is no way that the patient leads his/her care, the NHS will have to change massively before this ever happens.