A PROVIDER will decide whether to relinquish a contract providing care for inpatient beds at a Shropshire community hospital after failing to recruit the required staff.
The 16-bed inpatient ward at Bishop’s Castle Community Hospital has been closed since November 2021 due to problems recruiting the required staff to safely run the service.
Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust (ShropCom) are running a consultation process asking for ideas of how to overcome the problem before considering whether to relinquish the contract in August.
“Over the last 18 months we have tirelessly looked at how we could recruit staff for that inpatient unit but have been unsuccessful,” said ShropCom chief executive Patricia Davies.
“I think over that entire 18 months we’ve only managed to recruit 0.6 of a whole-time equivalent registered nurse.
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“It’s registered nurses that we absolutely need in order to run a compliant 24/7 rota. Given that we’ve tried every which way how in order to recruit the board has concluded that it can’t see any reasonable prospect of being able to staff the unit.”
ShropCom continue to run other services from the site including physiotherapy, ophthalmology and has their rapid response and virtual ward teams based at the site.
The trust would like to run other services from Bishop’s Castle but could decide to relinquish the inpatient ward.
If ShropCom make that decision NHS Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin, which commissions health services in the county, could stop the service or ask another provider to take over.
“We are really keen to have a conversation with commissioners about other services that we could provide from that base and are committed to keep running those kind of services within the unit,” added Mrs Davies.
“It’s not for us to make that decision over whether beds should close permanently, that is for the commissioner to make.
“We have informed NHS Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin’s commissioning side of the integrated care board to say that we believe that we have no reasonable prospect of being able to staff the inpatient facility.”
As part of their June monthly meeting the Shropcom board decided to extend the consultation process and they will make a decision in August.
Prior to making a decision the community health trust is getting the views from staff, patients and members of the public.
The process will include an online survey and researchers will be asking members of the community their views.
“We want to get their genuine input, there might be something that we’ve missed,” added Mrs Davies. “We will then collate that information to make a reasoned view over whether we can staff it or not.
“If we do make the decision to relinquish the contract then that information will be in a report handed over to the commissioners.
“The decision for us, as a provider, is whether we feel able and capable of delivering that service. We have taken on two independent companies to run that engagement and process.”
Last week a public meeting was held in Bishops Castle after councillors asked to speak to health chiefs to discuss the future of the service.
Gill George, chair of Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin Defend Our NHS, was one of those who asked why the trust had not considered offering recruitment and retention premiums in order to attract more nurses and retain them.
To give your opinion on the service visit the Shropcom website at: shropscommunityhealth.nhs.uk
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