Recruitment success is a boost for maternity unit in Blackpool

Currently staffing levels at Blackpool Victoria Hospital mean two per cent of women giving birth fail to get one-to-one care, according to figures presented to a meeting of the Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust board.

However that figure has improved from the previous month, with a report saying “this demonstrates the commitment to ensuring safe care in labour.”

It adds: “The incidents where one-to-one care cannot be provided is escalated to the matron and appropriate action is taken. The team are committed to achieving 100 per cent.”

An assessment of the maternity unit in 2021, found it was 20 midwives short of being fully staffed. Around 3,000 babies a year are delivered by the department.

But that shortfall has now been reduced to five with recent recruitment including three international midwives, two returning midwives, and 10 students who have been offered jobs following their training.

Lynne Eastham, director of midwifery at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals, told a meeting of the hospital board: “From a recruitment point of view over the past 12 months we have really been trying to be pro-active to reduce that gap of vacancies.

“So we have recruited three whole time international midwives who are being supported now through their training and are about to qualify.

“We have recruited two whole time experienced midwives that have returned to practice, and our student midwives were offered a post in their second year of training, and we have recruited 10.5 equivalent full time through that team.

“So I am pleased to say by the end of September the vacancy rate will be better than we have ever had before which I think is a really good position to be in.”

She added the unit was due to be assessed again and said: “In the meantime we are managing the safety and have escalation plans in place, and are monitoring our staffing levels every day to make sure everything is safe.”

Among the challenges was younger members of the workforce choosing a work-life balance which meant they preferred to work part-time, meaning the unit was “not losing people, but losing the hours.”

However there was the opportunity to use agency staff.