Army helping in hospital wards across Black Country and Staffordshire as sickness adds to NHS pressure

The welcome support comes as nearly two thirds of hospital beds in Sandwell and West Birmingham (SWBH) are now occupied by Covid patients.

Dr David Carruthers, SWBH’s medical director, told the trust’s board on Thursday: “There’s a continual risk assessment on a daily basis to ensure we have appropriate staff support.

"We’ve had additional support from medical students and we’ve got non-medical military personnel within several ward areas now. They’re just settling in but have been well received.”

The trust, which runs Sandwell Generay and City Hospitals, treated 427 coronavirus patients in January, taking up almost 60 per cent of general beds. It also has nine per cent of workers off sick.

Melanie Roberts, acting chief nurse, said: "Staffing has been very challenging throughout Covid. Staff have been moved twice a day every day."

The armed forces have helped with the UK's coronavirus response since the beginning of the pandemic, manning testing centres, building Nightingale Hospitals, delivering vaccines and helping to staff the NHS.

Lesley Writtle, non-executive director at SWBH, said: "The impact on our staff is going to be felt for a long long while.

"You're going to get staff who need time off and may well think about whether they want to stay.

"Nationally there's a wish to place a wellbeing guardian in all trusts and that could be a vehicle to make sure we look after our staff over the next year."

Military personnel are also working at hospitals in Walsall, Wolverhampton and Staffordshire.

Latest figures show 8.59 per cent of Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust staff are off work due to sickness and self-isolation.

Daren Fradgley, the trust’s interim chief executive, said: “We are grateful to have the support of the military personnel in our hospital at this extremely challenging and difficult time. These are very helpful clinical support staff working alongside our medics, nurses and frontline staff who are doing an amazing job working around the clock to respond to the unprecedented pressure on the NHS."

A spokesman for The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust said: “The trust, like many others, is experiencing pressure across the organisation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We are grateful to all of our staff who have been redeployed to areas of the trust they do not normally work in. We have also received support from military personnel which we thank them for.”

While the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust has seen a "significant increase" in Covid patients during this latest lockdown.

Michelle Rhodes, UHNM chief nurse, added: “We are enormously grateful to all our staff who have been working tirelessly through the pandemic for almost 12 months. In particular we are grateful to our staff who have stepped out from administrative roles or consultant roles to work support nursing teams in wards and critical care department.

"We are also grateful for the help we have received from staff at Stoke City Council, the armed forces and St John Ambulance Service lending their support to our clinical teams at this challenging time.

“I would also like to reassure our communities that our hospitals are safe and it is extremely important that anyone with significant health concerns continues to come to us for help.”