Ward staff are regularly very caring, patient and exhausted. The willingness of the nurses is great, this capability, however is unsustainable given the complex conditions of patients and their inability to perform basic functions and tasks. Staff to patient ratios on assessment wards is quite simply inadequate. Complex needs, an ever ageing patient profile and their ever changing physical needs does not leave sufficient time for ward nurses to nurse, monitor, medicate and take breaks. You have some great people, but you WILL lose them, or lose their motivation, unless this is managed effectively thoughtfully and quickly. Hiring caring staff is not enough if those staff then feel ignored, let down, unsupported and undervalued. This is not about pay, this is about patient safety and staff moral You have only a small window of opportunity