Staffing pressures

We want to reassure you that we are doing all we can to improve the staffing pressures being felt across the organisation at the moment.  We appreciate that staffing escalation is now regularly into the highest possible state and we are by no means complacent on this issue and recognise the extreme pressures you are working under and have been working over for many months. 

We have appointed over 140 new nurses and working hard to get these people into the organisation as quickly as possible and into the areas where they are needed most - both in our hospitals and in our community teams.  We have also recently agreed to fund our hospital escalation wards for the full year and are also working on a longer-term bed model so that we can plan well for the future.  We will keep you all posted on this and want to thank you all for the tremendous and selfless efforts you put in every day to make sure our patients are well looked after - it really is appreciated.