The Health Department has moved to reassure the public after an admission earlier this month that there were ‘very rare’ occasions when services had to be reduced because of staff shortages.
Almost 200 unfilled positions at the Hospital were outlined by Health Minister Richard Renouf in a written answer to Deputy Kevin Pamplin. This sparked concern from the Royal College of Nursing, with chairman Kenny McNeil describing the Hospital as being ‘in the red zone’, with vacancy levels as high as he could recall.
A spokeswoman for the department said: ‘Safe staffing is a priority for Health and Community Services. We can reassure Islanders that staffing levels across the whole department, not just the Hospital, mean that the organisation can run safely, even when there is staff illness.
‘The vast majority of vacancies, not just nursing roles, are in the process of being recruited to, and where needed, are being covered by well-qualified locum or agency staff.
‘In nursing roles, over half the nursing roles are in the process of being appointed to.
‘In nursing, staffing levels are monitored on a shift-by-shift basis, supported by an
electronic staff rostering system which provides workforce oversight, ensuring the appropriate level of staffing to match patient need.
‘We employ additional support to vacant positions in the form of experienced bank staff, who are locally employed registered nurses, and registered nurses recruited through a UK agency and brought in from outside Jersey for fixed periods.’
There are currently 38 agency nurses working across the department, at the Hospital and in other areas, notably mental health. The spokeswoman added that in relation to nursing and midwifery vacancies, the department was working hard on recruiting and retaining staff in the context of a labour market which remains challenged across the UK’s National Health Service.
‘Recruitment in healthcare, across the world, not just in Jersey, is always ongoing and it can be challenging to recruit staff to specialist areas as the number of specialists in some areas may be quite small,’ she said.
‘Health and Community Services pro-actively recruits staff, and we recognise that there is competition to recruit experienced staff.’
