Staff shortages force Hillcrest Maternity Unit in Alnwick to send patients to Cramlington out of hours

Data for March 2023 shows that 72% of the daytime hours that the trust wanted to have registered nurses on shift were staffed, meaning over a quarter were not. The rate of filled registered nurse shifts at night was 84%.

According to a report from a trust director’s ‘walkabout’ of the unit, staff shortages are the cause of reduced opening hours at Hillcrest Maternity Unit.

The report was presented at Northumbria Healthcare’s public board meeting this week.

The unit currently only operates Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, with no out-of-hours midwife on call.

Mothers requiring a midwife outside these times are being referred to Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington instead.

The report attributed this to an “inability to recruit qualified staff in north Northumberland for a number of months,” noting these steps were necessary to ensure a safe service.

It added: “Recruitment of midwives has been difficult, however some appointments are in progress and it is hoped that they will be in post by June.”

The trust reported that 6% of its registered midwife roles were vacant in March 2023.

A spokesperson for Northumbria Healthcare said: “The north Northumberland midwifery-led unit and homebirth out of hours on-call provision is currently suspended secondary to vacancy in the Alnwick and Berwick midwifery teams.

“However, following successful recent recruitment and further planned interviews this week, we expect to resume full operational services as soon as possible.”

In addition to a high rate of midwife vacancies, 12% of registered nurse roles in medicine and 5% of registered nurse roles in surgery were vacant in March.

Ward 12 at Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, a respiratory ward, reported the lowest rate of filled nurses shifts in the trust, with 49% of hours covered in the day and 58% staffed at night during the same month.

A spokesperson for Northumbria Healthcare said: “Despite a challenging landscape, the trust’s sickness absence level is currently below 5%, a 24 month low.

“We have dedicated teams who review staffing and patient dependency regularly throughout the day to ensure safe staffing levels are maintained.

“We continue with our rolling programme of recruitment, which includes working with international colleagues and local universities.”