Stafford Hospital A&E on track for October opening

Hospital bosses in Stafford today said they were aiming to reopen the A&E department in October with a nursing workforce of 90 per cent.

Managers are planning to have eight middle-grade doctors and one long-term locum in place.

The department has been closed overnight since December due to safety concerns. It was initially set to reopen in June but remained short-staffed. Hospital bosses outlined the recruitment plans at a meeting last night of the joint health scrutiny committee at the county council buildings.

Dr Bob Coupe, clinical leader for emergency medicine, said: "The lack of reopening the department was purely a clinical decision.

"Our concern was the team were very new and we did not have the strength in depth on the shop floor."

At the moment, there are four middle-grade doctors in place.

The criteria, as outlined by Dr Coupe, was for the hospital to have a minimum of seven middle-grade doctors – but there was space for nine.

Four additional middle-grade doctors are going to join Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, meaning that there will be a total of eight in place by October.

There will also be one long-term locum.

"We managed to appoint an emergency care matron and we are aiming to recruit our nursing workforce to 90 per cent," he added.

The doctor also outlined improved figures for the four-hour waiting time for patients in A&E and added it was getting closer to the Government's target of 95 per cent.

He said: "In January, our four-hour access target for 95 per cent of patient attendances was 78.39 per cent."

He added that the first quarter to date for 2012/13 was 95.75 per cent.

A&E is currently closed between 10pm and 8am every night, with patients diverted to Wolverhampton's New Cross Hosptial and Stoke.

The emergency care matron is due to start work on July 2.

Trust chief executive Lyn Hill-Tout said she was confident of an October re-opening.

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