9
Survey results
How worried are you about the backlog of care in your practice ? 30 %
20 %
10 %
0 % |
A great deal |
A lot |
A moderate amount |
Nursing in Practice survey , February 2022 . Answered by 393 nurses |
How long do you think it will take to clear the backlog of care in your practice ? 40 %
30 %
20 %
10 % 0 %
Nursing in Practice survey , February 2022 . Answered by 392 nurses
How does your current workload compare with earlier in the Covid-19 pandemic ? 50 % 40 % 30 % 20 % 10 %
Overall , has your job changed for the better since the Covid-19 pandemic began ?
Do you feel sufficiently supported by your employer ?
A little
Not at all
Have no backlog Under six months Six to 12 months 12 to 24 months Over 24 months
0 % |
Higher than before |
Still very high |
Still quite high |
Lessening somewhat |
Nursing in Practice survey , February 2022 . Answered by 392 nurses |
60 %
40 %
20 %
0 %
40 %
30 %
20 %
10 %
0 %
Better About the same Worse Nursing in Practice survey , February 2022 . Answered by 389 nurses
Always Usually Sometimes Rarely Never Nursing in Practice survey , February 2022 . Answered by 383 nurses
Lessening significantly based in north-west England said that listening to patients vent during appointments – for example , about the ‘ perceived lack of access to GP appointments ’ or ‘ delays / lack of communication between GP and secondary care ’ – took up a ‘ large volume ’ of their time . Respondents also reported a rise in patients attending with multiple problems because they had not been seen during the Covid-19 pandemic .
Another effect of the delayed accessing of services is that many patients with long-term conditions have seen them deteriorate and become more complex , and some new diagnoses are only being spotted now . One practice nurse in south-west England explained : ‘ Patients attending with multiple issues that they have had for long time , their symptoms are more complex and therefore more time is needed to treat them and complete referrals .’ Meanwhile , the Covid-19 vaccination campaign is ongoing , with the Government recently announcing another booster campaign for vulnerable patients in the spring .
Backlog of care Nurses are also dealing with the care backlog , triggered when general practice appointments fell by a third , from 24 million to 16 million between March and April 2020 . The number of appointments being delivered has now risen dramatically , reaching 26.9 million in January 2022 ( of which 1.2 million were Covid vaccinations ).
But despite this hard work , catching up with the backlog remains a formidable task . When asked how worried they were about the backlog , only 6 % of respondents said ‘ not at all ’ worried , while 10 % said ‘ a little ’, and 26 % said ‘ a moderate amount ’. Well over half ( 58 %) said they worried ‘ a lot ’ or ‘ a great deal ’. And when asked to estimate how long it would take to clear the backlog , just 16 % of respondents thought it would take less than six months . The majority said it would take at least six months , with 35 % estimating six to 12 months , 29 % saying 12 to 24 months , and 14 % more than 24 months . Just 6 % said their practice had ‘ no backlog at all ’.
Many nurses said they did not have enough staff to face rising patient demand , leaving little time to tackle the backlog – with several voicing particular fears about delivery of outstanding long-term condition reviews . A practice nurse based in north-west England said their team felt as if they were ‘ failing patients ’ because ‘ there aren ’ t enough hours in the day ’. Another , based in the East Midlands , said : ‘ We are so far behind with annual reviews of asthma , COPD and diabetes . Each month this backlog increases .’ A GPN based in Greater London agreed : ‘ Due to staff shortages we only have enough appointments for current needs , so we don ’ t have capacity for reviewing all the chronic diseases .’ Another , based in Greater London , added : ‘ We are understaffed ... the chronic disease burden is enormous .’ However , one practice nurse based in south-east England said their practice did not have a ‘ significant backlog ’ after ‘ working continuously through the Covid-19 pandemic ’ to see patients for screenings and immunisations .
Dipping morale Amid the rising demand , around half of respondents said they felt sufficiently supported by their employer either ‘ always ’ ( 14 %) or ‘ usually ’ ( 32 %), while 31 % said just ‘ sometimes ’, 19 % ‘ rarely ’ and 4 % ‘ never ’.
Many complained that their employer lacked an understanding of what nurses do and their expectations were too high as a result . A nurse practitioner in Northern Ireland wrote : ‘ Our workload has increased