Hospital staff shortages so severe nurses 'taxied to York from Scarborough'

The York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust says the last few weeks have been its most challenging period for staffing since the pandemic started.

Figures passed to The Press show that the number of vacant registered nurse shifts across the trust stood at 59 last Friday, 61 on Saturday, 73 on Sunday and 74 on Monday.

A member of hospital staff, who contacted the newspaper to explain the severity of the shortages, said they were “unprecedented” and described the situation as a “perfect storm”.

They claimed York was currently suffering from worse staff shortages than Scarborough and, as a result, nurses had been taxied over from Scarborough to work York Hospital shifts on a number of occasions over the past fortnight.

They said a vicious cycle was being created, with staff exhausted and suffering low morale, and unable to work extra shifts to help fill the gaps. There was a risk of nurses having too little time to do the tasks needed on an understaffed ward and, if this resulted in them having to rush their work, there was an increased risk of mistakes being made.

They said the shortages were caused by a variety of factors, including staff having to isolate after testing positive or look after their children after they had tested positive.

Younger staff, for example who had found work in York after graduating from the University of York, had been going back home to live with their families and work in hospitals near their home towns. They said accommodation in York was becoming ever more expensive, making a move to work in, for example, Hull, Leeds or Middlesbrough, much more affordable.

• MP to raise York Hospital staffing shortages in Parliament

A trust spokesperson said of the taxi claims: “Like many hospitals we do regularly move staff within our hospitals and across sites to ensure the safety of patients. In doing so, we do not expect staff to use their own transport or travel in their own time.”

They said operational pressures were being felt across the entire system and the trust’s hospitals were no exception as they managed Covid and increased demand for services.

“In terms of staffing, the last few weeks have been our most challenging period since the pandemic started,” they said.

“Increased staff absence is a combination of staff sickness, the impact of Track and Trace and annual leave. In respect of Track and Trace, fully vaccinated healthcare staff can only return to work under certain criteria in order to keep patients safe.

“In addition, we have increased Covid numbers, which means we have had to redeploy some staff to support our Covid effort. However, patient safety remains our priority and we are working hard to ensure we maintain safe staffing levels through the use of bank and agency staffing.

“Staff are understandably tired and the last eighteen months has taken its toll for many. We would like to thank all our staff for their continued hard work and commitment during this continued, sustained and challenging time.”