60 nurses resign from one department at St George’s Hospital as NHS labelled ‘chaotic’

By Charlotte Lillywhite, Local Democracy Reporter

Mental health patients at a major hospital are being treated in A&E for five days and 60 nurses have resigned from one department in the course of a year, a local MP has revealed.

Putney MP Fleur Anderson said the government’s handling of the NHS was “chaotic” as she spoke in Parliament.

Ms Anderson said staff had been forced to treat patients in corridors for the first time in the hospital’s history.

St George’s NHS Trust announced it was under “extreme pressure” earlier in January – and expects to be “very busy” over the coming months.

It comes as A&Es across Britain face crisis amid huge pressures – with record waiting times and hospital corridors turned into makeshift wards as beds on the real wards are full.

Ms Anderson told the House of Commons on January 11 that “pain, suffering and preventable deaths are up, GP waiting times are up, A&E waiting times are up, mental health and cancer assessment times are up” and said there are “huge gaps in community care”. 

The MP said she “didn’t realise how bad” the crisis was until she visited St George’s A&E last week – where staff are “broken-hearted” at having to treat patients in corridors for the first time in the hospital’s history.

She said: “All the doctors and nurses I spoke to agreed that this was the worst time they’ve ever experienced in their whole careers. The Winter Ward was opened last year but had to stay open for the whole year and so there’s now no more space for the extra winter surge.

“Sixty nurses have resigned from that department because of the stress of the workload and underpay. The additional winter payments which came from the government were only paid in December and have to be spent by March, giving them hardly any real impact. It’s chaotic the situation at the moment. They are having to practise corridor care for patients for the first time in the hospital and they are broken-hearted that they have to do that.

“They’ve had to stop elective heart surgery since the beginning of December, mental health patients are being treated in A&E for five days.” Ms Anderson said the hospital needed a “long-term plan, not being surprised by winter every year”.

In an earlier statement in January, the trust said its teams are “working hard” to see A&E patients as quickly as possible, “but right now – like all parts of the NHS – we are not always able to provide the level of care we would like, and we are very sorry this is the case”.

The trust added that it is putting measures in place to try to ease pressures – including opening up extra beds, supporting elderly and frail people in their homes to avoid A&E admissions and introducing a “hospital at home” and remote monitoring service.

It said: “It’s still really important you continue to come forward for the care you need. If it’s an emergency or life-threatening, then please dial 999 or go to an emergency department as normal.”

Pictured top: St George’s Hospital Emergency Department (Picture: Google Street View)