Thousands of NHS posts unfilled in the Midlands

THOUSANDS of NHS jobs are vacant in the Midlands as health bosses warn that a lack of staff is putting patient safety at risk.

The NHS Confederation, which represents health trusts and other NHS bodies, asked managers to rate their biggest concerns – and lack of staff was top of the list.

The most recent NHS figures show that there were 29,374 vacancies in the Midlands and East of England. It meant that 8.7 per cent of posts, around one in 11, was vacant at any given moment.

The vacancy rate was highest in mental health, with 10.1 per cent of posts vacant.

Lack of staff may help explain why some NHS workers are carrying out significant unpaid overtime.

The National NHS staff survey found 58 per cent of staff at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust worked unpaid overtime, with 15 per cent – more than one in seven – saying they do at least six hours extra a week, on average.

This is the trust that runs Heartlands Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Good Hope Hospital and Solihull Hospital.

At Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs City Hospital, 60 per cent of staff work unpaid overtime.

At The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust the figure is 59 per cent and at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust the figure is 69 per cent.

The NHS employs around 1.2 million staff nationwide across its range of services, making it the largest employer in the England.

But there are more than

100,000 vacancies in England in hospital and community services alone. It means hospitals and other health providers are often forced to rely on expensive agency and temporary staff.

The NHS Confederation said in its report: “Workforce is widely regarded as the biggest single challenge facing the health and care sector.

“The inability to develop, recruit and retain a skilled workforce risks both stretching our existing services to breaking point and undermining the sector’s plans for transforming future service provision. While a national recruitment campaign is underway, the scale of the challenges facing both the NHS and social care are stark.”

It comes after an inquiry by MPs warned that staff shortages helped explain why some health trusts were going over budget.

The inquiry warned: “Trust chief executives consider that staffing shortages in the NHS is one of the biggest threats to financial sustainability.”