Doctors don't want to work in Shropshire's A&Es, claims Wolverhampton hospital boss
Doctors don't want to work in Shropshire's A&E departments because they perceive them as 'unsafe', according to the man in charge of Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) needs an additional seven middle grade doctors and 15 A&E nurses in order to keep both its emergency departments open in the 'short-term'.
Unless staffing levels improve, bosses say the A&E department at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford will close overnight for at least six months from November.
SaTH has approached neighbouring trusts for help, as well as NHS bosses.
But David Loughton, chief executive of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, said: "The doctors won't go and work there. In fact the reverse has actually happened.
"There are some people who have quit working there and come here.
"It doesn't matter what management say. They will not work in a department that they perceive to be unsafe.
"I can't send them any doctors because I'm not putting my doctors in that situation."
Patients involved in major trauma are already taken straight to the major trauma centres in Stoke or Birmingham.
Mr Loughton said the setting up of such centres had many benefits for patients but NHS trusts have also had to deal with 'unintended consequences'.
He said: "The problem we have got here is we set up about five years ago major trauma centres.
"If you are a young doctor who has just finished their training that is the place that they want to go and work; the outcomes for patients, absolutely superb.
"Your chances of surviving major trauma in this country went up with the establishment of those major trauma centres.
"But it has had the impact, that's where people when they finish their training, they want to go and work. They want the excitement."
He admitted he is concerned what will happen over the winter months if Telford's A&E closes at night, but said that his trust would 'cope and deal with whatever happens'.
Mr Loughton says his trust took on extra patients when Stafford's A&E closed overnight and can put robust arrangements in place.
The planned closure of A&E at PRH has sparked a backlash from campaigners and calls for Health Secretary Matt Hancock to intervene.
A petition demanding a rescue plan from the Government to avoid the night-time closure has now been signed by more than 23,600 people.
A protest march is also planned for November 4.
More than 330 people have responded to a Facebook group saying they are 'going', and more than 1,200 people have said they are 'interested'.
