Us nurses and midwives have gone above and beyond during this pandemic. We have put the needs of our patients before our own, and before the needs of our family. We have done so, with very little in return. We work our guts off, don’t have the chance to eat or go to the toilet all shift, as well as not even having the chance to have a drink of water, with some wards not allowing staff to even bring their drink bottle to the staff station.

I am so sick of turning up to work every shift and being short staffed. The very odd occasion where we are fully staffed, is a rarity. We have lost so many of our core staff, our experienced staff, because they cannot cope with our working conditions. We feel guilty when the next shift after us is left short, so more often than not, someone will stay back and do overtime. Our managers are begging us to do OT or help with any hours.

When will enough be enough? What will it take for the government to see that we are not coping? Because patients are dying and staff are leaving, and they still can’t see that we are not coping.