Third of Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital wards understaffed
Almost a third of all inpatient wards at a Black Country hospital do not have enough nurses, a new report has revealed.
According to the Nursing Workforce Report, 22 out of 36, or 30 per cent, of all inpatient wards at Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital fell below the government's staffing level target.
The report for October this year stated that eight per cent of these shortages were due to too few registered nurses on day shifts, with a 39 per cent shortage of nurses on night shifts.
The government target is for the wards to have an 80 per cent average staffing rate but a total of three wards at the hospital did not meet that level during day shifts and this increased to 14 wards at night.
However, the figures were a slight improvement on September 2016, where there were 32 per cent of wards not meeting the 80 per cent registered nurse staffing threshold.
The highest percentage of wards not having the required number of nurses was as high as 42 per cent in January and February this year.
The report said: "This in part remains due to the rate of ongoing vacancies and a combination of short/long term sickness and maternity leave in some areas."
Factors that have contributed to the shortages, according to the report, were: Unfilled funded registered nurses vacancies, the enhanced and one to one care needed by some patients in a number of wards, and an accepted reduction in planned staffing.
A total of 26 staff left their posts at the hospital in October, 19 of these were registered nurses.
The report said that nurses had to carry out 'cross floor' working in certain wards to support efficiency, and that this 'ensured safety.'
The news follows the arrival of nurses from the Philippines who are currently undergoing their training and examinations at the hospital. A total of nine nurses arrived at the Wolverhampton hospital on November 3, and a further ten arrived at the end of that month.
Debra Hickman, deputy chief nurse, said: "The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust always strives to provide high quality, safe care for every one of our patients at all times.
"The recent safer staffing figures published in November 2016 have seen an improvement from previous months.
"Of course we are always looking for ways in which we can improve and always looking at ways in which we ensure patient safety is never compromised even when we have staff shortages."
