Almost 90% of nurses surveyed are facing burnout due to work demands

Almost 90 per cent of nursing are facing some level of burnout due to staffing levels and work demands, a new survey has found. 

The Nursing and Midwifery Work and Wellbeing Survey published today by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, at their Annual Delegate Conference, reveals that 94% of nurses and midwives consider that work is negatively impacting their psychological wellbeing, while 89% of respondents said they were at least somewhat burnt out because of work. 

When asked about the effects of staffing on patient safety, almost 85% of nurses and midwives said staffing levels could not meet work demands, with two thirds of those saying that patient safety was often or always put at risk as a result. 

 Commenting on the survey, INMO President Karen McGowan said: “These results are very stark and unfortunately they don’t seem to be getting better. There has been no opportunity for nurses and midwives to regain a stable footing since 2019, as it’s just been crisis after crisis in the health service since then.  

 “A pandemic that was bookended by absolutely staggering levels of overcrowding means there’s been no recovery time at all. This type of sustained stress over years and years has an absolutely crushing and traumatic effect on people, and these are the same people who are being asked to step up again and again to fill in the gaps. It’s just not sustainable.

“As a society we’ve become more aware of the importance of protecting people’s mental health at work, except it seems when it comes to people who work in healthcare. Our members are just not being protected from the long term physical and psychological effects of stress, and it’s simply irresponsible.”

INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha added: “The stress and burnout reported here is devastating for individuals, but it also has a knock-on effect for the whole health service. 

 “Almost 3 out of 4 of the nurses and midwives who responded to this survey have considered leaving their current work area. That means the fate of the entire health service is dependent on those people deciding to stick it out for another month or another year, whatever they feel they can do. 

 “In the meantime, the staffing shortages are having a direct impact on patients. The vast majority of nurses and midwives - 85% - are saying that staffing levels in their workplace cannot meet work demands, with a significant impact on patient safety. At that rate you have to consider that unsafe staffing has become the norm and that hospitals are not safe for patients on any day of the year. 

“Staffing is the biggest issue currently facing the health service, and this is the time to deal with it. The failure to legislate on safe staffing is putting nurses and their patients at very serious risk, and action needs to be taken to address this once and for all,“ Ms Ní Sheaghdha said.