Hong Kong nurses pushed to breaking point as city tackles winter flu season, union chief says
Joseph Lee Kok-long says discussions will take place next week to decide how to allocate HK$500 million in extra funding
In a Hong Kong public hospital ward, overflowing with flu patients from the intensive care unit, nurses are unable to finish their daily work even if they “skip eating, resting, or going to the toilet”.
This was the situation faced by a local nurse who shared her story with Joseph Lee Kok-long, chairman of Hong Kong’s biggest nurses union, the Association of Hong Kong Nursing Staff.
This particular ward was receiving 20 more patients than its original capacity of 43 a day, yet the number of nurses on the ward had not increased.
Quoting the experience of the nurse, who preferred not to be named, on Saturday Lee said nurses felt “desperate” as they were stretched to the limit amid the deadly winter flu season, which had been worsened by staff shortages.
Hong Kong short of 200 nurses as hospitals grapple with deadly flu season
“Night shifts are even worse … We worked to death and the day won’t dawn,” Lee quoted the nurse as saying. “With two [nurses] facing 50 [patients], what kind of care am I expected to give to the patients?”