British healthcare professionals are working harder than they were one year ago according to research carried out by Randstad, a specialist recruitment company.
In a survey of over 2,000 employees, Randstad found that doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals feel they are performing the job of 1.5 people, meaning they are covering 50% more work than one person should be – the equivalent of two and a half additional work days every week. In addition, 25% of workers feel more stressed now than they did six months ago, nearly half said it takes longer to switch off at the weekends than it did six months ago and 11% are consistently sleeping badly because of work. Ten per cent of healthcare respondents said they felt unable to take holiday this summer because of work pressure, while 25% of workers said their colleagues are expected to cover their role on top of their own work while they’re on holiday – with 36% saying their colleagues were expected to do enough to ‘keep things going’. Only 10% said their work is covered for them by a temporary member of staff.
