Health leaders commit to future of Bishop’s Castle Hospital despite staff vacancy ‘hotspot’ status
The future of Bishop’s Castle Community Hospital is not at risk despite being a ‘hotspot’ for staff vacancies, a meeting heard.
Leaders at Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust said they do not want to find themselves closing the much loved hospital again after patient safety concerns led to the facility being mothballed for nearly three years.
A huge community campaign to save the hospital and a successful recruitment drive lead to the 16 bed community hospital being reopened in July 2024.
But only a little over a year later a board meeting was told that it has been one of three ‘hotspots’ for staff vacancies. It has also been one of Shropcom’s two hotspot areas for staff leavers, alongside departing health visitors in Dudley.
The meeting in Telford on Thursday (Oct 2) heard a number of directors give their commitments to keeping Bishop’s Castle Community Hospital open.
Asked whether the ‘viability’ of the facility is an issue, Rhia Boyode Shropcom’s director of people and organisational development said the answer was “a short no.”
“We are doing a lot of recruitment and progress is happening,” she said.
Clair Hobbs, the director of nursing, quality and clinical delivery said the closure happened because staffing was “50 per cent down”.
She added: “The people team have worked hard and we have re-recruited. We are on it, and there are no concerns there.
“We do not want to be back in that position with Bishop’s Castle.”
The meeting also heard that the trust is using experienced bank staff to fill gaps.
Andrew Morgan, the chair in common of Shropcom and the county’s acute hospitals trust, said he is a “huge fan of community hospitals.
“We need to max them out and have them as a focus for our attention and investment,” he said.
The recently published NHS 10 year plan also calls for a shift away from acute hospitals to services being run in the community.
Mr Morgan also said the total of around 10,000 staff at Shropcom and Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust gives them a bigger pool of people who may want to work there.
Some 75 hospital staff at rehabilitation and recovery units which are being closed in Telford and Shrewsbury are also being “supported to move to alternative roles” including to Bishop’s Castle, the meeting heard.
Board papers say the main reason for staff leaving Shropcom has been because of age based retirement.
The organisation is also supporting “more flexible retirement” including retiring and returning.
The second highest reason for leaving is related to “work life balance”. Board papers say that initiatives to “support more flexibility in how people work are underway”.
