Agency nurses hired to plug staffing gap at Stafford hospital
Temporary staff have had to be brought in at Stafford's County Hospital because one in five nursing positions are unfilled.
Bosses today confirmed the vacancy rate was currently at 20 per cent but reassured patients and relatives the situation was 'manageable' .
Head nurse Elizabeth Rix said getting in agency staff had been successful and nurses had also been brought over from Stoke Royal University Hospital - where the rate is five per cent - to deal with the current shortfall. She reassured that further re-shuffling between the two sites would 'impact favourably' on County Hospital.
Ms Rix said: "Clearly we have had challenges and there are still challenges around staffing at County.
"The vacancy rate is 20 per cent and we have plans to reduce that. Twenty per cent is manageable but we want to see it much lower."
At a recent meeting, members on the trust board commended the efforts of hospital staff throughout the last three last months in the wake of a huge increase of patients attending A&E, as well as what Ms Rix described as 'unprecedented levels of flu'.
But concerns were raised whether the extra pressure had taken its toll after the latest performance figures revealed sickness among workers had increased in December.
But Helen Lingham, on the board of University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, said the rise had been down to 'seasonal illness' and was not 'outside of the norm'.
She said: "Our staff have managed incredibly well. We should not underestimate the pressure they were under.
"We are constantly reviewing staff levels and moving staff around to manage challenging areas. One of the key questions we are always asking is whether staffing levels are what they need to be.
"There has been a lot of work and relentless pressure on the hospital and the overall sickness and absence levels are mainly down to the winter vomiting virus."
Ms Rix said plans were in place to talk to staff about how they had coped in recent months.
She added: "Our staff have really rallied to meet the challenges they have been presented with and shown a 'we are all in this together' attitude.
"We have got to be mindful of when that subsides and to give them the opportunity to talk about their experiences."
