A nursing director has warned his trust that more wards may have to close due to a shortage of registered nurses.
A 20 bed orthopaedic ward at Hull and East Yorkshire Trust’s Castle Hill Hospital has already been closed to free up staff. Nursing director Mike Wright has told the board he cannot rule out more closures if the shortage continues.
Directors at the trust have backed Mr Wright, who also implemented a six times a day safe staffing review of wards across the trust with nurses moving to help short-staffed areas.
Mr Wright told HSJ there was a concern generally over the number of nurses to provide adult care and it was not right to keep all wards open and “cross your fingers”.
He said: “I am really clear: if I am not able to staff a ward safely, I will close beds on that ward. There may come a time where we can’t make sure every ward is safe and we will have to close wards temporarily.
Full story in The HSJ, 24 October 2017