"Hard working, but understaffed nurses on surgical ward at Whiston Hospital"

I was admitted to H4 9th October and was discharged today 15th October. I have nothing but admiration for the hard working staff on this unit.

The care that I received was second to none. Thank you.

My only concern is the pressure that these nurses must be under. From what I saw, they are extremely understaffed and very overworked. I found that a typical night shift would have 3 nursing staff on duty. This ward does not 'go to sleep' at night time, as they are dealing with surgical cases.

The staff worked non-stop with every kind of eventuality, such as looking after post operative patients, preparing patients for surgery, and carrying out all observations, and the general well being of patients and concerned families on the ward.

Not only do staff care for patients, they take calls for requests for beds for non gynae patients all day and night. This must add more pressure on to their work load. If they were allowed to use the 'day case ward', as was obviously requested on one occasion. I am a very light sleeper. This surely would have a knock on affect on the planned admissions, who are booked for procedures. Obviously, there were no medical beds available so they would need to be transferred before the planned admission could be admitted.

I would be interested to know what the safe accepted ratio for nurse:patients would be on a surgical ward.