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Recruitment drive as New Cross Hospital wards fail to meet staff target

A quarter of inpatient wards at New Cross Hospital were under-staffed last month, according to new figures.

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Data revealed ahead of the latest meeting of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust showed it was failing to hit Government targets.

According to the report, a total of 12 wards were below the government threshold of 80 per cent staffing during the night, four wards did not have enough nurses in the day and two did not have enough health care assistants during the day.

The figures are from February and the report states they equate to 25 per cent of inpatient wards at the hospital.

In January, 22 per cent of wards did not have the required 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 were due to a lack of registered nurses at night.

The report stated that the results were a consequence of 'ongoing vacancies and a combination of short term and long term sickness' as well as 'maternity leave in some areas'.

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."

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