Former and current NHS staff along with others have trashed plans to ask staff to work longer hours.
One current nurse said she didn't know how she or her colleagues would be able to work any harder than they already did, while another person, who said they had just left the NHS, said the work-life balance was already atrocious and the new plans would encourage more people to quit.
Welsh Health Minister Eluned Morgan announced on Tuesday that 'Super Saturdays' would be introduced in Welsh hospitals in an attempt to boost productivity rates, as well as the introduction of incentives which encouraged staff to take on longer shifts.
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The plans are part of the Welsh Government’s strategy to tackle a record-breaking backlog of planned NHS care in Wales, which currently has 691,885 patients on its treatment waiting list. Part of this strategy includes a pledge to eliminate one-year waits for the majority of treatments by spring, 2025, and to employ more than 12,000 new NHS staff members. You can get more health news and other story updates by subscribing to our newsletters here.
Ms Morgan said: "We're looking to develop high-volume places – called 'green lanes’ – where [planned procedures are] kept apart from urgent cases in the likes of A&E so we can get our consultants carrying out the operations they're very keen to do. We're looking to do more 'Super Saturdays', for example, and we will be encouraging and incentivising people to work longer hours.”
Opposition parties have called the strategy “unambitious” and criticised the lack of detail about how staff numbers will be boosted, And large numbers of people in Wales have taken to social media, largely to express their dismay at how NHS staff will be personally affected by the changes. Wales ambulance staff have said they are 'dead on their feet' as waits hit unprecedented levels - read more about that here.
Ant Kitcher asked, “aren’t our NHS staff overworked enough?”, while Micaela Turner called the plans “ridiculous” and said: “As if they don’t work long enough hours as it is!”
Nicola Willmott reacted to the announcement by saying: “All staff are already at breaking point due to pressures,” while Steven Thomas said: “If they want to drive every medic out of the NHS that's the quickest way to do it. They're already battling with exhaustion, short staffing and at imminent risk of burn-out for God's sake.”
Similarly, Valerie Willmott sarcastically described the plans as, “brilliant ideas from people who have no idea what is happening at ground level.” She added: “Maybe they should consult the worn-out staff that are doing the work who are already working extra hours.”
Likewise, Julie Harper said: “There are only so many hours in a day, so how can they possibly expect staff to work all the extra hours when they have a family life too?”
A current NHS nurse, Natalie Porter-Timothy, said: “I agree we need to tackle the lists, but I don’t think myself and my colleagues can work any harder than we do! I love being a nurse but, being a mum too, life is very busy! It’s heartbreaking to be a nurse at the moment.”
Jordan Fletcher, who said she used to work for the NHS, reacted to the news by saying: “What? Longer than 13-hour shifts and already working weekends because the NHS doesn’t close on weekends? I’ve done a 29-hour shift and many of my colleagues much more, I’m yet another health professional that walked away from the NHS recently. The claps were great but what we wanted was the 10% pay cut given back.”
Echoing the same feelings, Billy Shaw said: “I've just left the NHS after 15 years and left my profession after 36 years. The work-life balance is atrocious, and the hours expected are ridiculous. I'd expect to see more leave the NHS if this plan is implemented.”
Also raising the issue of work-life balance for NHS staff, Victoria Charlesworth said: “While the rest of the country is talking about work-life balance and the possibilities of a four-day week, the government want those who have worked so hard in terrible circumstances getting us through Covid to now start working longer hours and more weekends. That’s a really good way to keep them.”
Heather Aldridge had a joking response to the news and said: “Blimey. They are already doing double or 12-hour shifts. What more should they do, move in completely?”
Although she said she was currently on an NHS waiting list for treatment, Joanna Myerson said of NHS staff: “They worked themselves to the bone during Covid to keep us alive. And now we want them to continue because being on a waiting list is inconvenient? I’m waiting for gallbladder surgery which has a two-year waiting list but, unless it becomes an emergency, I understand that I have to wait and deal with the pain.”
Due to the demands of dealing with the pandemic, the Welsh Government decided, like in other parts of the UK, to postpone non-urgent care when Covid took hold of the country in 2020, so that staff and resources could be reallocated. Two years on, the NHS waiting list in Wales has lengthened to the extent that more than one in five patients are now waiting for treatment.
The Welsh Government has said its plan to tackle the issue by increasing work hours and staff numbers will be supported by giving an extra £15m a year over the next four years (£60m in total) to health boards, which brings the Covid recovery NHS budget to around £1bn.
Fewer in-person outpatient appointments, more testing away from hospitals and a focus on early diagnosis and treatment of suspected cancer patients also form part of the plan to tackle the waiting list.
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