10 | Nursing in Practice | Spring 2022
Low morale and pessimism about the future
How is morale among your team ?
50 %
40 %
30 %
20 %
10 %
0 %
Extremely good
Great |
Average |
Bad |
The worse I ’ ve |
|
|
|
seen it |
Nursing in Practice survey , February 2022 . Answered by 383 nurses
How are you feeling about the next few months as a nurse in general practice ? 40 %
30 %
20 %
10 %
0 %
Very positive Positive Neutral Negative Very negative Nursing in Practice survey , February 2022 . Answered by 383 nurses
Are you considering leaving your job in the next year – and if so , how ? 40 %
30 %
20 %
10 %
|
0 %
No
Yes – By retiring early
Nursing in Practice survey , February 2022 . Answered by 380 nurses
Yes – By retiring as planned
|
Yes – By moving to a different nursing role within general practice
Yes – By moving to a different nursing role outside of general practice
Yes – Changing professions altogether
|
Yes – Not sure how |
Yes – Other |
but this does not seem to be registering with management .’ However , several praised the good communication and flexibility of their practice . A practice nurse in northwest England summed up the variability across general practice well , saying their current employer was ‘ very appreciative ’ but this hadn ’ t been the case in previous surgeries where they had worked .
Meanwhile , most respondents either ‘ always ’ ( 15 %) or ‘ usually ’ ( 56 %) felt appreciated by their patients ; 25 % said this was the case ‘ sometimes ’ and 4 % said ‘ rarely ’. No one said they ‘ never ’ felt appreciated by patients . Another practice nurse , based in Greater London , said patients were ‘ mostly satisfied ’ despite the ‘ odd complaint ’. But some nurses reported verbal or physical abuse . A practice nurse based in Wales wrote of ‘ less respect from patients since restrictions in place to see GPs and nurses face-to-face , angry outburst in receptions , extreme rudeness on phone ...’
Overall , 60 % of respondents said their job had changed for the worse since the pandemic began , while 34 % said it was about the same and 5 % said it had changed for the better . Few respondents reported high morale among their team : just 10 % said it was ‘ great ’, and 3 % said it was ‘ extremely good ’. The rest said morale was ‘ average ’ ( 45 %), ‘ bad ’ ( 19 %) or ‘ the worse I ’ ve seen it ’ ( 22 %).
Looking forward Despite the pandemic appearing to lessen its grip , many respondents had a pessimistic outlook : nearly half either felt ‘ negative ’ ( 31 %) or ‘ very negative ’ ( 13 %) towards the next few months in general practice . Only around a fifth said they felt either ‘ positive ’ ( 18 %) or ‘ very positive ’ ( 4 %).
Main findings
• Nearly two-thirds ( 60 %) of nurses in general practice say their job has changed for the worse since the Covid-19 pandemic began
• Most respondents are considering leaving their jobs next year , with just 33 % saying they are not planning to move on
• The majority ( 78 %) think the backlog in their practice will take six months or longer to clear
While Covid restrictions have been relaxed , NHS England said there would be ‘ no immediate changes ’ to infection prevention and control guidance in healthcare settings . In the survey , which was carried out before these announcements , respondents outlined some concerns about PPE , with 20 % saying they were ‘ not satisfied ’ with the level and quality available . The British Medical Association recommended in January that general practice clinicians should use FFP2 masks ‘ as a default ’ when seeing patients – but just 45 % of our respondents said they ‘ always ’ had access to FFP masks for face-to-face consultations , while 29 % said they ‘ never ’ did , 5 % said they ‘ rarely ’ did and 8 % said they ‘ sometimes ’ did .
RCN professional lead for general practice nursing Heather Randle said our survey ’ s findings came as ‘ no surprise ’, particularly after the ‘ huge pressures ’ of the Covid-19 pandemic ‘ against a backdrop of poor pay and working conditions ’.
Ms Randle urged ministers to ‘ urgently ’ address the issues raised in the survey , including workload and staff shortages , warning that until they do , ‘ health promotion and prevention will continue to suffer and unnecessary hospital admissions remain inevitable ’. In addition , she raised the ‘ key issue ’ of variable pay , terms and conditions faced by practice nurses who are not on AfC contracts .
‘ Staff feel undervalued and invisible , and it ’ s desperately sad but not surprising that many are thinking of leaving their jobs . Even before the pandemic , the system was under strain with not enough skilled nurses . Now it is in crisis ,’ she concluded .