Hospital needs £2m to 'stabilise the workforce'

INTENSIVE care at a Teesside hospital needs £2m of investment in its staff to meet workforce standards.

- By GARETH LIGHTFOOT

The critical care unit at the University Hospital of North Tees needs to recruit medical staff who are specialists in intensive care, NHS board members heard.

Staff were commended for delivering a high quality of care, however a report says turnover at North Tees critical care is “one of the highest in the region’, and sickness has been rising, mainly due to stress, anxiety and depression.

Members of the board for University Hospitals Tees group, which covers the North and South Tees NHS Foundation Trusts, were told of the options for investing in the workforce. However one member asked: “Where's the money coming from?”

An NHS report makes recommendations to invest in critical care nurses qualified to various levels, along with consultants, physiotherapists, dieticians, pharmacists, psychologists, rehabilitation after critical illness, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy.

The preferred option for this recruitment and training is expected to cost almost £2.1m over three years - £501,5680 this financial year, then £1.1m and £470,495 in years to come.

Chief nurse Emma Nunez said the North Tees critical care unit, which is funded for 16 beds, was not meeting intensive care standards guidelines. She said the investment plans would “stabilise the workforce’, including the removal of one unfunded bed in an unit with 72% occupancy.