Agenda item

This report from North West London NHS Hospitals Trust provides information to members of the Health Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the position regarding A&E services for their consideration and comment.

Tina Benson (North West London Hospitals NHS Trust) introduced the report and advised that recruitment of staff, in particular doctors, to Accident and Emergency (A and E) services remained difficult, whilst the number of patients attending had now reduced to around 30 a day.  A number of efforts had been made with regard to recruitment and although 15 applicants were invited to interview for middle grade or junior doctor posts, none were thought suitable following the interview and clinical workstation assessments.  However, since publication of the report, a further 10 applications had been received. In view of the above, Tina Benson advised that it was recommended that the interim overnight closure of the A and E remain in place for a further year with a review of arrangements taking place in six months’ time. 

Councillor Harrison enquired whether the recruitment plans were based on the A and E services re-opening at night in the future.  Councillor Hunter sought reasons as to why none of the candidates had passed the interview stage for middle grade and junior doctor posts and Councillor Sneddon sought clarification as to whether any of these applicants had passed the clinical workstation assessment.  With regard to advertising for these posts for a publication in Eastern Europe, Councillor Gladbaum enquired what consideration there had been with regard to language issues and how would such staff be supported if they were recruited.  Councillor Hossain asked for further information on what steps were being taken to improving the quality of staff at middle grade level.

In reply, Tina Benson advised that it was intended to recruit posts across the whole of the hospital trust and initially to appoint sufficient numbers to operate A and E services on a 24/7 basis, however this no longer looked likely to be achievable.  All staff were now rotated across the trust in order to maintain their skill levels.  Tina Benson stated that it was a surprise that none of the candidates for the middle grade and junior doctor posts passed the interview stage, however the shortage of suitable candidates could be attributed to a shortage of A and E doctors nationally.  This had led to a number of junior doctors applying for more senior posts when they were not yet suitably experienced or qualified in the hope they would be able to secure these posts.  It was noted that only one candidate for middle grade and junior doctor posts had passed the clinical workstation assessment.  With regard to recruiting staff from Eastern Europe, Tina Benson informed Members that the advert and recruitment pack would be translated into the appropriate language and all staff were subject to a checking and sign off process before they were approved to work unsupervised and twice weekly training sessions would also be run.  In efforts to improve the quality of middle grade posts, CMH now worked with only one agency and efforts were being made to address responsibility and managerial roles as well as clinical duties.  CMH was also re-examining what it expected from staff and to communicate these clearly.  Tina Benson advised that recruitment of nurses, however, had been successful.

David Cheesman (Director of Strategy, North West London Hospitals NHS Trust) added that there had been much work to address the recruitment issues at the hospital and recruitment on both sites of the Trust were also being undertaken as part of the Shaping a Healthier Future programme.

The Chair requested an update on this item in around six months’ time, including details of progress on recruitment.