Appointment of A&E consultant at Shropshire health trust welcomed
A hospital boss at the trust which runs Shropshire's two main hospitals has welcomed the appointment of its first A&E consultant in more than five years.
Nigel Lee, chief operating officer at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), said the trust has also received a number of job applications for middle grade doctor roles – another area it has struggled to recruit to.
He told a meeting of SaTH's trust board that the job interviews are imminent.
He added: "This is an increasingly improving picture."
A report by Mr Lee to the trust board explained the effects of not being able to recruit middle grade doctors.
It said: "This inability to recruit to substantive middle grade posts has led to an almost total reliance on locum middle grade cover after 11pm at Princess Royal Hospital and on some nights at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the requirement for three of the consultants to act down.
"This dependency on locum cover increases the level of risk to quality assurance and the trust’s ability to deliver the four hour patient safety standard.
"The number of changes to the rota to spread the risk are significant and are a potential retention risk to the department.
"It also compromises the training and supervision of junior doctors within the department overnight."
The new substantive A&E consultant was recruited on Monday and further interviews with potential candidates will be carried out in the next few weeks.
Simon Wright, chief executive of SaTH, said the sudden interest in the trust's job adverts could be put down to the news of the funding being secured to take the Future Fit programme forward.
It was the fifth consultant recruitment in 10 days, with two also being appointed in ear, nose and throat and a further two in bariatrics – the branch of medicine that deals with the causes, prevention, and treatment of obesity.
In March, the Government confirmed more than £300 million of investment for the reconfiguration of the county’s two main hospitals, paving the way for a public consultation to begin.
If given approval by health commissioners next week, the public consultation will launch on May 30 and run for 14 weeks.
Consultants from other trusts have also spoken about the advantages of shaking up hospital services.
Dr Edward Rysdale, who is an emergency medicine consultant for University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, wrote on Twitter that consolidating acute specialties on one site provides the best and safest care for patients and would be far more attractive to potential A&E consultants.
The Future Fit pubic consultation will feature two options.
The preferred option which has been put forward by Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin clinical commissioning groups includes siting the county’s emergency department at RSH.
Under that model, PRH would take on responsibility for providing planned care.
The second option would be for PRH to house Shropshire’s emergency department and for RSH to become the planned care site.
Both hospitals would have an urgent care centre.
