Children units closing to new patients

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has revealed that specialist children's wards are having to temporarily close due to severe staff shortages.

With paediatricians reported to be filling rota gaps by performing the jobs of two or three doctors at once, Neena Modi, president of the RCPCH, has warned that urgent government action is required to recruit more child health specialists as the current ‘quality of care people want to deliver is being compromised’.

The RCPCH’s new report, based on information supplied by NHS trusts and boards across the UK, reveals that ‘shortages of nurses and doctors led to periods of closure to new admissions by 31 per cent of paediatric inpatient units and 41 per cent of neonatal units’ in the year to September 2015.

Furthermore, the report states that there are currently 241 vacancies for paediatricians across the NHS, with the number of young doctors choosing to specialise in the field falling 28 per cent in the last two years alone. This decline is exasperated by Brexit, with 40 per cent of career-grade paediatricians having earned their first qualification abroad.

Speaking to the Independent, Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “Demand for children’s healthcare has peaked and yet children’s units are being forced to close under unprecedented pressure and the paediatric workforce has been dangerously stretched to its very limit.

“It is a disgrace that the Tories have failed to guarantee the rights of non-UK nationals undertaking vital work in our NHS. The Tories are placing the health and well-being of our children in jeopardy. Only Labour will transform our NHS into a health system giving our children the very best possible start in life.”