The letter to Mr Johnson, dated 15 January, warned that many staff were “demoralised and traumatised, with some struggling to get through their shifts”, amid staff shortages and soaring cases of Covid-19.
It added that health staff “may end up burned out or leaving the NHS if they are expected to continue with such an excessive workload and shortages of staff”.
Staff were also having to cover for “multiple colleagues” who were either off sick with Covid-19 or who were “simply exhausted by the demands of working on intensive care units full to capacity”.
Given the scale of the challenge facing the health service, the unions urged the prime minister to personally intervene in the pay situation.
Concern for nurses in Wales as Covid-19 cases rise at alarming rate
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Welsh health unions plea in desperate bid to protect NHS
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Welsh Government allows health boards to stop non-Covid NHS services if services become overwhelmed
It may lead to outpatient clinics and some cancer treatments being postponed this winter
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Welsh health boards have been told they can halt some non Covid-19 treatments and appointments if services become overwhelmed in the coming weeks. In a statement on Thursday, Health Minister Vaughan Gething set out a series of options which health boards could implement if pressures continue to rise.