Nurse calls for action as well as words on NHS investment

An experienced nurse has shared her doubts about whether Tuesday’s draft Budget will help solve the challenges facing her profession, saying “I feel we hear the same things over and over again”.

Senior charge nurse Julie Lamberth said that over her 30-year career she has only seen the pressure on nurses increase, and that it is becoming harder to attract and retain staff.

She said nurses “continually” hear that working conditions will improve and that wages will go up, and that problems like delayed discharge will be addressed, but that this is not followed by concrete action.

“I was looking at headlines on delayed discharges. These are not new. These are just getting worse every year,” the 54-year-old said.

“They talk about things that they’re going to do, but there’s never actually anything in place to solve these problems.

She added: “So we need to see action. It’s all very well them saying their plans, but there’s never any action.”

During her speech, Finance Secretary Shona Robison’s budget promised “significant new investment” in NHS staff, including wage rises and a better work-life balance.

Asked for her thoughts on this, Ms Lamberth, who works at the maternity unit at University Hospital Crosshouse in Ayr, said similar pledges had been made in the past but had not materialised, leaving nurses having to “fight” for pay rises.

“Nothing changes, I think it’s getting worse as hospitals are sitting at well over 100% capacity,” she said.

“When I first went into nursing, you didn’t see that.”

Ms Lamberth added: “We need to invest in the future of nursing so that we can ensure that we have nurses that are going to be there to look after people in the future.

“Because people are going to get sick and they’re going to need to be looked after, and a lot of people are living longer but we don’t have the facilities to look after them.”

The veteran nurse also said there needs to be more investment in community care, to prevent people from ending up in hospital in the first place.

“We talk about shifting the balance of care to the community, but they never back up with the investment that’s necessary,” she

“And nursing is key to working in the community and expanding community and social care.”

Ms Lamberth, who also holds the position of chairwoman of the Royal College of Nursing Scotland board, added: “We need to look at why we’ve got delayed discharges.

“And it all goes back to this, we’re not investing in community care.

“It’s not rocket science. I feel that I’ve been saying this for years.

“We need to get it right at the start, and that’s in the community so we can prevent hospital admissions.”