The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Hospital staff ‘shortage’ fears
Lib Dem leader Vince Cable expresses no deal Brexit concerns on visit to Peterborough
The leader of the Liberal Democrats has warned about the potential consequences of Peterborough City Hospital losing European staff due to a no deal Brexit on a visit last Thursday.
Sir Vince Cable said he was impressed with how the hospital was preparing for Brexit, but warned that recruitment problems could be made worse.
Speaking after he had been given a tour of the hospital by staff, he told the Peterborough Telegraph: “They seem very well organised, and very well prepared, and there was no sense of panic.
“The deeper, longer term issue is about staff - about 500 of those 6,500 staff come from abroad, quite a lot of them from Europe. Potentially, if things go wrong they will lose them.
“They have a big vacancy rate. They are not able to recruit locally at the scale that they want, so they are bringing people in - some of them from the Philippines and India for nursing. But there’s a senior German doctor - one of the key people in the hospital - and quite a lot of Europeans. And if they lost them it would be a serious blow.”
Mr Cable was speaking to the PT ahead of a Q&A with Liberal Democrat members at the Peterborough United stadium in London Road.
He also called for city residents to remove MP for Peterborough Fiona Onasanya should a recall petition open up in the future.
Ms Onasanya was jailed for three months for perverting the course of justice after lying about who was driving her car when it was caught speeding. She was released after just four weeks on Tuesday.
Mr Cable said he was not interested in changing the law to automatically expel MPs in prison, but he added: “It is a bizarre situation. It’s important for Peterborough to be represented, and if she can’t win her appeal it’s important you have a by-election as soon as possible.”
The North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Peterborough City Hospital, said nobody was available to be interviewed following Mr Cable’s visit. But in a statement chief executive Caroline Walker thanked Mr Cable for visiting the hospital.
She added: “We showed him around ward A8 which cares for our renal patients where he was able to meet staff, including some who have been recruited from the EU.
“We were pleased to have the opportunity to show him our fantastic services and facilities and to show him how compassionate and dedicated our staff are.”