Challenging employers who fail to comply with regulations

Mounting pressures on nurses mean many are working much longer hours, with no proper breaks. RCN UK safety reps chair Denise McLaughlin tells Lynne Pearce why employers must put nurses' health and safety at the top of the agenda

When Denise McLaughlin read about the nurse who crashed her car following a 12-hour night shift with no break, she was inspired to act.

'She had had no food or fluid at all,' says Ms McLaughlin, who chairs the RCN UK safety reps committee. 'The paramedics attending the accident said her blood sugar was very low.'

After she was fined and banned from driving for a year, the nurse's story attracted widespread publicity. The case highlighted the mounting pressures on nurses that mean many are working longer hours with no proper breaks.