Lincolnshire’s hospitals have committed to investing an additional £2.6 million over the course of a year into expanding their nursing and midwifery workforce, to ensure wards remain safely staffed and to further improve the quality of care provided to patients.
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) recently undertook an ‘establishment review’, looking at nurse and midwifery staffing across all wards in all of its hospitals.
This review looked at how many Registered Nurses, Midwives and Healthcare Support Workers are employed on each ward, which varies depending on numbers of beds, the estate, and also the different conditions cared for by that ward.
Following the review, the Trust has decided to invest an additional £2.6 million over the coming year in increasing numbers of staff on most wards, to ensure they remain safe and to reduce the amount of money spent on expensive agency staffing to fill gaps.
This investment will pay for an additional 25 (whole time equivalent) Registered Nurses and Midwives and 57 (wte) Health Care Support Workers. Job adverts for these posts are now open on the NHS Jobs website.
Director of Nursing for ULHT, Dr Karen Dunderdale, said: “We carried out our establishment review so that we could be assured that the nursing and midwifery staffing levels across our wards continue to be appropriate and sufficient, in light of the recent pandemic.
“This is about ensuring that our nursing and midwifery establishments and shift arrangements deliver the best possible quality of care to our patients, whilst making sure we use our resources efficiently.
“We know that having permanent staffing in place, rather than using lots of agency staff, is best for patients and for the Trust. It just makes sense.
“I’m delighted that we have been able to secure the investment to both recruit these new staff members, and also to support them in an ongoing way once they start with us to ensure they stay.”