Patients unable to get help to eat on dangerously understaffed NHS wards at centre of second wave

Vulnerable patients at a major NHS hospital at the centre of England’s coronavirus second wave have been left without help to eat or drink because wards are so dangerously understaffed, The Independent can reveal.

Dozens of safety incidents have been reported by doctors and nurses at the Liverpool University Hospitals Trust since April, citing the lack of nurses as a key patient safety risk.

Across several wards, just two registered nurses per ward were being expected to look after dozens of sick patients – a ratio of nurses to patients far below recommended safe levels.

On one ward there were 36 patients to two registered nurses – with the nurse in charge of the ward having only qualified six months earlier.

The safety concerns also include a diabetic patient – where there was no evidence nurses had monitored their blood glucose levels and insulin medication, which if left unchecked could prove fatal.

Other patients have been forced to eat food and drink which has gone cold by the time staff are ready to help them.

The hospital is among the worst affected by the surge in coronavirus cases in the north of England. It’s medical director warned on Friday that it was at 100 per cent capacity and unable to maintain standards of care.

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Source: The Independent, 5 November 2020