London A&E doctor shifts left unstaffed

Research has shown that at least 8,000 doctors shifts were left uncovered in London's accident and emergency departments last year.

The BBC has reported that staff were found to be leaving emergency medicine due to the pressures of understaffed departments, with doctors overstretched and unable to give patients the service they would want to.

A freedom of information request revealed that the largest number of unfilled shifts was recorded at the Barking, Havering and Redbridge Trust which had 3,540, with Lewisham and Greenwich Trust recording 979 unfilled shifts last year and Croydon Trust recording 782 shifts not filled.

In fact, only 11 of London's 18 acute trusts were able to give the BBC figures and some hospitals could not provide figures for the last months of the financial year, so the overall number of missing shifts is likely to be higher.

Figures from a recent British Medical Association survey of 1,000 doctors found that 68 per cent had been asked to act up into more senior roles or cover for more junior colleagues, while 65 per cent said medical trainees at their trusts were pressured to take on extra shifts.

Amar Mashru, an A&E doctor in London, told the BBC: "This is something that happens commonly and is something A&E doctors are very used to; coming on to shift and realising that that day's staffing is not filled. We all know in our selves what good quality care looks like and if you don't have the staffing to deliver it you cannot deliver it.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "There are over 750 extra consultants working in emergency medicine since 2010, and we recently announced the biggest ever increase in doctor training places to get even more into our hospitals. As part of our long term plan for the NHS, we also recently increasing funding by an average 3.4 per cent a year - meaning that by 2023/24 it will receive £20.5 billion a year more than it currently does."