Salisbury Hospital has had 500 vacant roles for "majority of the year"
Chief Executive says low staff levels is biggest issue hospital faces
Last updated 7th Dec 2022
As many as 500 roles have been vacant at Salisbury District Hospital for the "majority of this year", according to its Chief Executive.
Stacey Hunter, Chief Executive at Salisbury District Hospital, told Greatest Hits Radio low staff levels is one of the biggest issues it faces.
"We've been running with that number of vacancies (around 500) certainly over the majority of this last year.
"Having the right numbers of people to manage the work that we've got on a day-to-day basis is one of our most challenging problems.
"We would characterise it often as having more work that we've got people, and clearly we have temporary ways of bringing colleagues in, like agencies, but we really do need to get on top of our vacancies."
The vacancies are mostly non-medical and include roles in housekeeping, catering and admin.
Among them, there are around 100 vacant healthcare assistant roles, which although do not require a clinical qualification, provide "hands-on care for patients".
Asked about what measures they've put in place to make vacancies more appealing to candidates, Chief Executive Stacey Hunter said she took employee feedback onboard by increasing the minimum salary on offer in line with the current National Living Wage.
"In some of those roles, we didn't pay the equivalent to the current living wage, which is £10.90 an hour.
"So we've taken a decision through our board, that we'll pay the equivalent to the current living wage in those roles, including the healthcare assistants and porters and some of our catering staff."
Meanwhile, up and down the country, thousands of nurses and ambulance workers prepare to strike over pay and working conditions this month.
Among the reasons are low staff levels across NHS Trusts - which unions describe as "unsustainable".
Thousands of homes to receive leaflets about the vacancies
The new campaign #JoinOurPeople shines a spotlight on their people and features real life employees to represent the different roles they have available and why people should come and work for Team Salisbury.
Adverts will appear locally in various places including back of buses, local GP surgeries, supermarkets, social media and a 45,000 leaflet drop.
The hospital is asking anyone who enjoys being part of a team, being busy and taking pride in their work to come forward and visit worklife.salisbury.nhs.uk to view all their latest recruitment opportunities.
Students are also being targeted;
Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust provides a wide range of clinical care at Salisbury District Hospital, which includes general acute and emergency services to approximately 225,000 people across Wiltshire, Dorset and Hampshire.
Back in July, ambulance handover delays and staff sickness levels led to a critical incident being declared at the hospital.
Later, in October, the hospital announced its A&E department was at full capacity and urged patients to not come in unless for a life-threatening or serious injury.