Review over hospital staff worry

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Managers at Cardiff's University Hospital of Wales say they are reviewing staffing levels after concerns over patient safety.

Staff at Wales' largest hospital contacted BBC Wales with worries over the pressure placed on them and medical services.

They also raised issues about lack of capacity to treat patients, with claims some were being treated in corridors.

Cardiff & Vale University Health Board said it is now reviewing staff numbers.

It added that it places the utmost priority on patient safety and care.

It is understood that a "breaking point" was reached on Thursday night with claims that staff were told to work through breaks.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said concerns had been raised and that it would hold an urgent meeting with hospital managers to discuss the pressures, and the arrangements for recruiting agency staff.

Professor Ceri Phillips, a health economist at Swansea University, said financial pressures were adding to the more traditional problems of winter emergencies and staff sickness.

"At this time of year, we know the pressures on accident and emergency departments and emergency care increase and they are exacerbated by the fact the staff themselves get these seasonal illnesses," he said.

"So when you put these increasing demands with the financial pressures which health boards find themselves under and trying to address the financial pressures perhaps by cutting back on the agency staff to deal with the hikes in demand, it's a reflection of a number of factors."

Dr Phillips told BBC Radio Wales: "It's very difficult because there are spikes which can occur unexpectedly."

He said the Welsh Assembly Government was trying to address the bigger picture and the fragmentation of emergency care in the health system by "joining up the pieces" to stop unnecessary pressures building up.

"It's early days in the life of the new health boards. I know they're concerned by the number of targets they have - the A&E targets and financial targets," he said.

"What traditionally happened was the old NHS trusts brought in agency staff, registered nurses, to cover for the hike in demand and staff on the sick.

"I suspect there have been reductions in those budgets but perhaps they need to be addressed."

Darren Millar AM, who chairs the health, well-being and local government committee in the National Assembly, said he was surprised the hospital had not been better prepared.

He said he believed more flexible staff arrangements would help.

"The hospital needs to make sure it has more flexible working over the winter so that if there's a surge in the number of people presenting at accident and emergency for example they have got the capacity to be able to deal with those extra people and admit them into the hospital if necessary," he added.

Jan Williams, chief executive of the Cardiff & Vale University Health Board, said the hospital was facing "significant pressures".

"The nurse director is personally reviewing the staffing requirements, to make sure that the hospital has sufficient staffing to meet the pressures," she said.

"We place the utmost priority on patient safety and care and are working with staff to resolve the issues raised as a matter of urgency."