50 new health staff on the way

More than £1 million has been set aside by the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust to recruit 50 extra nurses and healthcare assistants.

The move comes as the trust, which is being investigated by the Healthcare Commission, admitted that incidents of short-staffing have affected standards at Stafford and Cannock Chase hospitals. Health campaigner Julie Bailey welcomed the news, but urged the trust to spend as much of the amount as possible on fully-trained nurses rather than healthcare assistants.

The trust says it is still deciding exactly how recruitment will be split between the two roles and how the extra staff will be divided between its hospitals and their departments.

Trust bosses decided to create the new posts, at a total cost of £1.15 million, after a review of staffing levels pinpointed "certain areas" where more staff were needed.

Chief executive Martin Yeates said: "Over the last year we have taken a great deal of action to improve and develop the quality of care that we provide.

"In most cases the quality of care in our hospitals is very good and has been improving since the appointment of our new director of nursing and governance, Helen Moss, last year.

"However, we have acknowledged that, at busy times coinciding with a higher than usual level of staff absences, the quality of care in some areas has not met the high standards we strive for.

"As a result, we aim to recruit 50 extra nurses and healthcare assistants in the coming year. In addition to this, we will be increasing the number of matrons across the trust."

Mr Yeates said a further £150,000 is also being invested to improve selected wards.

Mrs Bailey, of Stafford, who set up campaign group Cure the NHS after the death of her mother in Stafford Hospital, warned against the trust "nursing on the cheap" by using too many healthcare assistants.

She said: "It's excellent news. The only problem is that on the ward where my mother was, they over-used care assistants and there was a shortage of trained nurses – you rarely saw one beyond the drug rounds.

"You've got to be grateful – it is a start – but not only do they need to recruit staff, they need to train them properly, too."

A spokesman for Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust said that details of the new roles would be finalised during meetings today.