Telford and Shrewsbury hospitals to get 30 new doctors
Thirty new junior doctors will be taken on to cope with the demand on Shropshire’s A&E departments and medical wards, at a cost of £1.8 million.
Simon Wright, chief executive of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), has announced funding for the additional doctors over the next two years to improve staffing levels at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford's Princess Royal Hospital.
He says the investment comes following discussions between senior members of staff, including doctors, nurses and other medical professionals.
Bosses say the move reflects the harsh demands of this winter and will help to ensure contingency plans for the overnight closure of A&E at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford do not have to be actioned.
Mr Wright said: “This commitment further enhances our ambition to build new services and ensure our existing ones remain in our county.
“This will also improve the health outcomes for our population and introduce more jobs and training opportunities through extending our apprentice schemes.
“By increasing our workforce we expect to see improved patient outcomes, better patient flow, two sustainable emergency departments and a better environment for our patients, their families and our staff.
“The junior doctors will work on the rota so we can have approximately six per medical ward over 24 hours.”
Dr Kevin Eardley, medical director for unscheduled care at SaTH, said increasing the workforce would improve quality and safety, reduce length of stay, free up beds and allow for better weekend working.
He said: “At the moment demand is exceeding our capacity, both in terms of physical space to care for patients and in terms of workforce capacity to manage the demand – and as a result we experience internal inefficiencies and quality, safety and flow becomes compromised.
“This is reflected in high bed occupancy rates, high length of stay and poor access to emergency services.
"Workforce costs are also associated as we have to employ more agency staff and open escalation wards.
“Although difficult to quantify the impact of increasing the workforce, we know that a lack of medical workforce is a significant barrier when trying to successfully implement initiatives to improve patient flow.
“By allowing these initiatives to flourish we should expect reductions in length of stay, the freeing up of hospital beds and improvements in our emergency department performance figures.”
