NURSES face an "impossible and unfair" workload and a senior nurse has warned the whole system is in danger of grinding to a halt as Bury's hospital bed crisis rumbles on.

Nurses say they are dealing with too much work because they are looking after patients who have finished treatment and should be cared for outside the hospital.

According to Mrs Angela Abbott, director of nursing at Bury NHS Health Care Trust: "Nursing in Bury has changed significantly in the last two months and we feel we are reaching breaking point since the social services adopted a two out one in policy for elderly patients in nursing homes."

A senior nurse at Fairfield Hospital who asked to remain anonymous said: "There is more and more pressure on the nurses on the wards. And it has a knock-on effect all over the hospital.

"We have a patient who finished treatment after six days. He was ready to leave but because there was no funding for residential accommodation he has been stuck in the hospital for several months.

"This man would get up in the morning, wash himself and get himself dressed. He was totally capable of looking himself and just needed the care that a home could offer him. Nurses should look after people who need to be looked after.

"It's terrible for patients. Hospital is the last place you want to be if you've just made the decision to sell your home and move into residential accommodation. It's a life-changing decision and these people can't even get on with it.

The senior nurse said that it is situations like this that lead to poor nurse morale "It's very frustrating for the nurse who works so hard to encourage each bit of patient independence to see them stuck in hospital when they don't need to be there - there is a real danger of the patient becoming institutionalised.

"The nurses are also aware that there are people waiting in casualty on trolleys queuing for beds. They are phoned constantly by GPs and doctors looking for beds for their patients."

Nurses also have to deal with the relative's frustration as the nurse is the first port of call. They have to handle people who are often very upset about their parent's treatment and don't understand why nothing is being done.

"Junior nurses are being forced to do things they wouldn't do normally. Chasing social workers and doing paperwork takes then away from the patients."

The senior nurse concluded with the grim warning: "Over the last two months there's been a huge increase in pressure. If it's like this in October there are going to be severe problems in January/February.

"It's impossible and unfair on nurses and the pressure at the moment is unbelievable. Because we are there 24 hours a day we feel the strain to breaking point.

"I've worked with the elderly for 10 years and the situation has never been so bad."

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