Question: My mum and dad both work in the nhs and have a stressfull time as they have to work extra hours because of other people not coming in. do u have to ever work extra hours and does that become stressful?

Jamie Hynes answered on 7 Mar 2018:

Hey it’s you again! It’s a careful balance and yes sometimes there’s situations where we work longer than other times, most commonly when it’s a poorly child and reception will ask if we can squeeze them in. Working too long on too many days will have a wearing effect, and a tired and fatigued doctor may not make as effective decisions.
We have the opportunity to decide how much ‘strain’ we can take, and if it becomes ‘stress’ and we’re bending too much (sorry for the physics lesson) then we should make a change, eg set a limit, hire another member of staff and take a small hit to our income.
We all have care of patients at the heart of what we do, me, your mum and your dad, but we all need to make sure we’re in a good place to provide that care.