The burgeoning workload on nurses at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford has left many off with stress and morale at rock bottom under an “uncaring” management, it was claimed today.

The allegations come after the Shropshire Star revealed this week that hospital bosses were cracking down on tea breaks taken by staff during their shifts.

But health chiefs said the new measures were designed to provide “reassurance” to taxpayers that NHS staff were doing the job they were paid to do.

They urged disgruntled staff to report grievances to management.

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust has said workers at the PRH and its sister hospital, the Royal Shrewsbury, have never been entitled to paid breaks during the working day but some staff had been taking them anyway.

The crackdown prompted a flood of messages on the Shropshire Star’s website, both from angry nurses and people who agreed with the trust’s policy.

One PRH nurse claimed she barely had time to stand still, let alone have cigarette and drinks breaks.

She said: “We are not allowed on our ward to drink coffee at the desk, even if we are doing paperwork.”

She claimed other wards allowed tea and biscuits and she recently saw one executive manager talking to a colleague while both were sipping mugs of coffee.

The nurse added: “Rules are obviously different for the ‘workers’.Everyone you talk to at PRH is despondent at the moment.

“Many are off with stress. The managers don’t care, as long as they are under budget and beating bed breaches. Nothing else matters. The PRH is falling apart – well the staff are.”

Another writer, the mother of a nurse and midwife, said her daughter came back from shifts drained.

She added: “Time after time she has not even been able to take her scheduled, legally entitled meal break, let alone have breaks for cuppas.”

Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust spokesman Andy Rogers said: “These terms and conditions provide staff with a clear framework that also offers flexibility to frontline workers to deliver the care their patients need.

“This also gives reassurance to the tax paying public that all NHS staff are doing the work they are paid for.”

By Simon Hardy