One in 10 health posts not filled
Hospital chiefs in Sunderland were unable to fill one in 10 vacant posts last year – despite taking on 350 new workers, new figures show.
NHS England figures show 9.7% of full-time equivalent positions at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust were unfilled as of the end of December – an improvement on the 10.9% in March 2022.
The data also shows that, of 212 trusts in England, 79 (37%) had a vacancy rate of 10% or more.
Kath Griffin, director of HR and organisational development at the South Tyneside and Sunderland Trust – which runs Sunderland Royal Hospital – said: “Strengthening and developing our team is one of our key priorities.
“We simply could not do what we do without our fantastic team working on the front line directly with patients and those working in our support services and, in the last few months of 2022, we welcomed 350 colleagues.
“We continue to build on our success over many years in recruiting from overseas and work closely with local schools, colleges and universities to create more opportunities for local people and keep our home-grown talent here in our region with our last recruitment event bringing in around 160 new nurses and healthcare assistants.”
The figures come as nursing staff leaders say nurses are being put under "intolerable pressure" as there "simply aren't enough of them".
General secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, Pat Cullen, said: "Recruiting and retaining nursing staff in the NHS has become a serious challenge on the back of over a decade of pay cuts.
"Until we begin to turn the tide and fill these vacant posts, the NHS will not be able to tackle the backlog in care.”
Nationally, the vacancy rate for nurses has risen from 9.9% in March 2020 - before the pandemic - to 10.8% at the end of last year.
Across NHS trusts in the North East and Yorkshire, 6,109 (9.6%) nursing positions and 1,130 (5%) doctors' roles were unfilled at the end of December.
Caroline Waterfield, director of development and employment at NHS Employers, said: "The NHS is not immune to the challenges facing the rest of the UK economy in terms of a very competitive labour market.”
Ms Waterfield urged the Government to implement the "overdue" long-term workforce plan for the NHS immediately.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "There are record numbers of staff working in the NHS, with over 51,500 more people compared to a year ago – including over 5,300 more doctors and over 12,300 more nurses.
They added: "We want to build on this progress and will publish a workforce plan shortly to ensure that we have the right numbers of staff, with the right skills to transform and deliver high-quality services fit for the future.”
*South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust is hosting a recruitment event on Saturday, May 27.
Places can be booked by emailing stsft.princestrust@ nhs.net or calling 0191 569 9635.
It is looking to fill full and part-time vacancies for ward clerks, administrators, medical secretaries and booking officers and offering apprenticeships in IT, graphic design, business administration and payroll.