19 October 2018

The Chief Executive of the Trust which runs Shropshire’s two acute hospitals met with officials from the Indian Consulate in Birmingham today to explore ways of preventing an overnight closure of the Accident and Emergency Department at the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford.

Simon Wright, from The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), attended the meeting along with Telford & Wrekin Council leader Councillor Shaun Davies to ask the Consul General of India in Birmingham, Dr Aman Puri, if they are able to help provide any staff from India.

Simon said: “We had a constructive conversation with the Dr Aman Puri whereby we asked for help in urgently attracting Middle Grade A&E Doctors to come and work at SaTH.

“We outlined the opportunities available for Middle Grade A&E Doctors from India, such as free accommodation, financial support for a return flight home in the first 12 months and a personal development allowance, and he said would work with us to promote the Trust in India.

“What we all want is to keep both Emergency Departments open 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, and we will continue to explore every avenue possible. We are grateful for all the help and support we’re receiving from Telford & Wrekin Council and from all our local politicians. It’s really heartening to see what can be achieved through pooling ideas and working together.”

The meeting with the Indian Consulate is the latest move as officials from SaTH look at ways of avoiding the potential overnight closure of A&E at PRH.

The department currently remains open 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week. However, the Board of the Trust has agreed that the A&E could close between 8pm and 8am because of staff shortages that are impacting on patient safety.

If the recruitment of additional staff is not possible and an overnight closure becomes unavoidable, it would not happen until sometime in November.

Clinicians at SaTH believe that both A&E Departments – at PRH and at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) – could be maintained in the short-term if the Trust had:

  • An absolute minimum of seven additional levels Middle Grade Doctors – taking staffing levels up from 11 to 18.
  • An absolute minimum of 15 more Registered A&E Nurses.

However, that would only address the immediate problems, with a longer-term solution still needed.

In the meantime, SaTH is continuing to work closely with MPs, councillors and other partners to try to avoid the overnight closure, or to reduce any impact as much as possible should it become necessary.

SaTH is continuing in its efforts to recruit more staff to its A&Es. Recruitment attempts include:

  • SaTH has appointed three new A&E consultants – a net increase of two substantive A&E consultants.
  • Consultant posts advertised six times in the last 12 months.
  • Middle Grade posts advertised nine times in the last 12 months.
  • Recruitment of registered nurses, including open days and recruitment events run as a ‘one stop’ event with interviews and assessments on the same day.
  • ED has also invested in specific nursing campaign which ran throughout May 2018 via the RCN and Nursing Times. In the last 12 months, 21 appointments have been made.

Latest recruitment successes include:

  • 22 new Consultants have joined SaTH across the specialities since the beginning of the year.
  • Funding has been secured for 30 additional Junior Doctors over the next two years.
  • 32 newly qualified Staff Nurses joined the Trust in September, and a further 23 have been offered jobs.
  • More than 100 Staff Nurses have joined SaTH across the specialities since the beginning of the year.
  • More than 30 Student Nurses have been offered ‘Golden Tickets’, meaning they are guaranteed a job following graduation.