Nursing numbers at New Cross Hospital dip below Government target
A quarter of all inpatient wards at New Cross Hospital were under-staffed for nurses last month, according to new figures.
Data revealed ahead of the latest meeting of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust showed the Trust was failing to hit Government targets.
Twenty-five per cent of all inpatient wards at the hospital had less that the 80 per cent full rate of nurses in February - dipping below levels set out by Government.
The 25 per cent was worse othann January's figures, in which there were 22 per cent of wards with less than the necessary number of nurses.
According to the report, 11 per cent of the shortages were due to lack of registered nurses being available in the day and 33 per cent was due to a lack of registered nurses at night.
The report stated that the results were a consequence of "on going vacancies and a combination of short term and long term sickness" as well as "maternity leave in some areas."
However, the 25 per cent was a decrease on the same time last year in which there was 37 per cent of wards without the required number of nurses in March 2016.
Chief Nursing Officer Cheryl Etches said after yesterday's meeting: "It is fair to say it is of great importance to us to recruit a greater number of nurses but not only that, to do work around retaining staff once they are here.
"We are pleased to say that we are continuing to carry out work to recruit more nurses with the aim of reducing the percentage of wards below the 80 per cent fill threshold."
