A nurse has raised concerns that qualified staff willing to work at South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) during winter pressures are being prevented from doing so due to Trust decisions around training.
Speaking anonymously to the Herald, the nurse explained that she left the Trust last year to take up a full-time nursing role elsewhere, but recently attempted to return to help support services during the winter period.
“Last year, I stepped away from the Trust to take up full-time work in another nursing role,” she said. “I’ve recently decided that I would like to return to the hospital to help with the upcoming winter pressures.”
As she was no longer part of the Trust’s nursing bank, the nurse said joining an agency was the only viable option.
“As I’m no longer on the nursing bank, the only feasible option was to join an agency, something many nurses understandably prefer given the significant pay difference,” she said.
“At present, we can earn more working in Lidl or Tesco than we do through the Trust.”
“A colleague and I have now joined an agency so that we can return to help relieve the winter pressures,” she said. “We have completed everything except our Encompass training and have been actively trying to organise this.”
“The agencies informed us that the Trust were currently not willing to take on any additional agency nurses due to the cost of training, and that they intended to continue with the existing workforce until at least the New Year,” she said.
“I appreciate that agency nurses represent a financial burden to the Trust,” she said.
“However, I have been told by colleagues within the hospital that a number of locum doctors were recently trained in Encompass, despite being paid around £150 per hour when on shift.
“So whilst I appreciate that SWAH is busy, when they put out staffing appeals, which they will undoubtedly do so, as they put them out every winter.
“Please be aware that there are many staff nurses actively trying to get work in the SWAH but being denied encompass training by the trust, and therefore cannot work,” she said.
“This is adding significant pressure to a failing system, and is one thing that can be easily fixed to make a fundamental difference.”
She concluded, “It’s infuriating because we have the skills to go in there and work and we can’t.”
