NURSES have told of their heartbreak over how hospital patients are being left to die alone due to shocking staff shortages.

In a report published by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) today, staff said standards have fallen so low that the “benchmark is survival.”

A midwife said there were “completely unsafe care due to unacceptable staffing levels” in the Yorkshire hospital she works in.

“The standards of what is acceptable care for a service to provide have fallen so low, the benchmark is survival,” she warned.

A community nurse in the south of England said: “We leave over 50 patients requiring nursing care unseen on a daily basis due to poor staffing levels.

“This leads to increases in hospital admissions and death.

“It is left to us to decide who gets seen and who gets missed, which is heartbreaking.”

A hospital nurse in the West Midlands said: “I have not been able to sit with patients who are dying, meaning they have been left to die alone.

“I have not had the time to make sure patients are fed properly and have adequate drinks.”

A community nurse in the south-west of England said: “We have days when we have 60 visits unallocated because we don’t have enough staff.

“Every day we are asked to do more. We are always rushing.”

The RCN report found only a third of shifts had enough registered nurses on duty.

Its survey of more than 11,000 nursing staff found many were demoralised from being unable to keep patients safe.

Significant numbers in accident and emergency and outpatient departments reported having more than 51 patients to care for.

The union is calling for safety-critical limits on the maximum number of patients a single nurse can be responsible for as “in every health and care setting, nursing staff are fighting a losing battle to keep patients safe,” said RCN acting general secretary Professor Nicola Ranger.

“It is dangerous to patients and demoralising for nursing staff.

“When patients cannot access safe care in the community, conditions worsen and they end up in hospital where workforce shortages are just as severe.

“This vicious cycle fails staff and patients — it cannot go on.

“We desperately need urgent investment in the nursing workforce but also to see safety-critical nurse-patient ratios enshrined in law.

“That is how we improve care and stop patients coming to harm.”