Healthcare staff in the North are exhausted and fearful about what the winter could bring, a leading nurse has warned.
Roisin Devlin, the nurse lead in the South Eastern health trust, said colleagues were worried that A&E wait times will increase even more if Covid-19 case rates rise further in the coming months.
Professor Stephen Kirk, a consultant surgeon at the trust’s Ulster Hospital, said there was a “tiredness and jadedness” among staff and concern that more elective procedures may have to be delayed to enable the system to cope with the current pressures.
The senior healthcare professionals were speaking at the opening of the new Acute Services Block at the Ulster Hospital.
Ms Devlin said: “There is no doubt that staff right across healthcare are exhausted.
“It’s been absolutely unprecedented in the pressures and the numbers of patients that are coming in very unwell to the emergency department, and then needing admission to inpatient wards.
“And, at times, patients have had to wait significantly longer than any of us would have wanted. But the staff are working really, really hard. They’re doing the best they can but there is no doubt staff are tired and concerned by the incoming winter.”
The nurse urged people to get vaccinated against Covid-19 to help reduce pressure on the system.
“The fears are obviously that patient numbers increase coming in through and that there are longer waiting times for patients in the emergency department to get to beds.
“So, staff would really appeal to the public out there to say if they haven’t had their vaccine, please do get it.
“If you’re entitled to your booster, please do get it.
“But, also, if your inpatient journey is finished and we’re ready to discharge you, please work with the staff to be able to leave the hospital bed to allow somebody else to be admitted into that bed.”
Prof Kirk said there was an “undercurrent of anxiety” among staff across the health service over whether there are sufficient numbers of doctors and nurses to cope with the situation.
“I think that the concern is that [if] we’ve another winter similar to before and, speaking from a surgical perspective, we still have difficulty in operating on all of those patients who require elective surgery,” he said.
The consultant said the establishment of a Covid-free green pathway for surgical procedures at the Ulster Hospital had enabled surgeons to carry out more cancer operations in the first 12 months of the pandemic than had been possible in the year previous.
Both Ms Devlin and Prof Kirk hailed the facilities on offer at the Ulster Hospital’s new block, highlighting the potential benefits for treatment provision.
The trust’s interim director of planning, performance and informatics Naomi Dunbar said the existing main hospital block was almost 60 years old.
She said it had taken 13 years since the business case for the new build was first submitted to get to the official opening.
“There’s a real buzz, real tremendous feeling and real happiness, and we just can’t wait to Saturday to move the patients in,” she said.
“It’s an outstanding building, built to the latest healthcare standards.
“We’ve got fantastic new health technology in it that will make the staff’s life easier and the patients’.
“It’s a state-of-the-art facility that will be here for generations to come.”
