Nurses warn of 'unsafe' staffing

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Staff at a Nottingham hospital's neonatal unit are concerned about what they say are "unsafe" working conditions, the BBC has learned.

Leaked documents from nursing staff referred to "dangerously low" staffing levels at Nottingham City Hospital.

A hospital spokesman confirmed there were staff complaints after a period of high demand in August combined with staff illness at the neonatal unit.

Working patterns were being reviewed, but the service was safe, he said.

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust said in a statement that more staff would be starting in October.

If you have staff on their feet 14 hours a day then they are soon going to have their own health needs Desreen Snow

The unit cares for sick babies - many of them premature - and includes 12 intensive care cots.

In the leaked letter, the staff complain of working under severe pressure and working with minimal or no breaks.

They said the number of incidents on the ward had increased and gave a stark warning that premature babies were being put at risk.

One grandmother told the BBC that she believed understaffing contributed to the death of her granddaughter at the neonatal unit.

Desreen Snow told BBC News there was just one junior nurse in charge of four intensive care cots when her granddaughter Chanel's condition deteriorated.

'Shouts not heard'

"There were not enough staff on the day - my daughter's shouts about there being something wrong with that little baby were not being heard," she said.

Ms Snow added that the senior nurse did respond but "those were crucial minutes when something could have been done if there had been more staff on duty that day."

"If you have staff on their feet 14 hours a day then they are soon going to have their own health needs," she added.

Dr Jonathan Evans, clinical director for women and children's services at the hospital, said: "If the unit is particularly busy we have a system ... of limiting babies to those from Nottingham."

Staffing review

The British Association of Perinatal Medicine calls for one nurse for each intensive care cot, but Dr Evans said his unit's staffing levels were not at that level.

"We would like to support that but 97% of intensive care units in the country are unable to provide those levels of staffing."

He said nurses were not expected to work 14 hour shifts without a break and "we do not believe they are working (those shifts) on a regular basis."

He added that all levels of staffing were being reviewed as part of the recent merger of Nottingham's two main hospitals into one trust.

Emily Robinson of the premature baby charity BLISS said: "We know this is a national problem and we want the Department of Health to provide additional funding to ensure neonatal units are staffed at the right levels and babies are not put in danger."