Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Perth Royal Infirmary nurses ‘fear someone will die’ due to NHS Tayside staff shortages

NHS Tayside admitted staffing gaps after a source said nurses are "working themselves to exhaustion".

Perth Royal Infirmary entrance sign.
Mowatt made stab threats at PRI. Image: Steve Brown/DC Thomson

Nurses at Perth Royal Infirmary are living in fear that “someone will die on their watch” as NHS Tayside admits there are gaps in the workforce.

A source said staff are “working themselves to exhaustion” trying to tend to patients with their limited workforce, leading to burnout.

They also revealed that staff are worried that someone will end up “seriously hurt” due to not being able to provide a good level of care.

They said: “Staff can’t get to patients to help them go to the toilet in time, or answer their buzzers, help them heal, help them with washing or just be free for a reassuring chat.

“Relatives are being left to wait for unacceptable amounts of time to speak to staff because there are just not enough of us to go around.

“It’s not fair on them or the patients.

“Staff feel like they are letting their patients and their families down.”

Staff ‘tired and overworked’ at Perth Royal Infirmary

The source added: “They experience an impending feeling of doom coming into work because they know they are short-staffed and nothing changes.

“They are trying to stay afloat and it’s not because they are not trying, they are tired and overworked.

“Looking after up to 10 unwell patients every shift is exhausting and unsafe.

“They came into nursing to look after people – far from what they are actually able to do currently.”

The source said concerns have been raised to senior managers at Ninewells Hospital about the “unsafe” staffing situation at PRI.

Ninewells Hospital.
Concerns have been raised to senior managers at Ninewells Hospital. Image: DC Thomson

“Staff want support”, they said.

“They want the managers in charge of NHS Tayside to listen. They want them to visit PRI and see how unsafe it is with their own eyes.

“Staff have not had a nurse director come to PRI in months.

“They need them to come and visit the wards, speak to the staff they avoid and to hear their voices and how their decisions are putting patients at risk and crushing the staff.”

Sickness, vacancies and maternity leave blamed

A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said, “We have recently been made aware of concerns relating to gaps in our nursing workforce at Perth Royal Infirmary due to a combination of unplanned sickness absence, vacancies and maternity leave.

“The senior leadership team is working with the staff at Perth Royal Infirmary to mitigate any gaps and support the workforce to deliver high quality, patient-centred care.”

Conversation