I work in a high dependency mental health ward. Since the pandemic began, no visitors have been allowed to the ward to see consumers, and all consumer’s leave is cancelled. For this reason patients are even more agitated and distressed than they would normally be.

The service was understaffed before the pandemic began, but this has been the case since I started working as a nurse 5 years ago. Now, almost every shift is understaffed, leaving managers to try to find workers to do overtime. All staff are exhausted.

We are working with significant levels of risk – risk of violence, and risk to vulnerable consumers. Our ward was previously gender segregated to manage risk to vulnerable consumers. The ward is now mixed gender to make room for a COVID ward. We must be adequately staffed EVERY SHIFT to manage these risks. There have already been a number of adverse incidents. We are not currently delivering care in line with the communities’ expectations with such depleted resources.