Hospital deny nurses' 'babies at risk' claim

Theatre staff at the Jessop Wing have contacted The Star claiming that women needing emergency Caesarean sections during the night are being put at risk.

New arrangements, currently being phased in, mean the number of qualified nurses on the out-of-hours surgery team is being reduced from four to three, with a support worker, who does not have the same level of medical skills, replacing one of the nurses.

Nurses are concerned there could be a risk to patients and unborn babies if two emergencies occurred at the same time.

A first operation could go ahead staffed by a team of medics that would include two qualified nurses.

But a second emergency operation could not go ahead until an additional nurse had come over from the neighbouring Hallamshire Hospital to provide cover.

Hospital management today denied there is any risk.

They said they have plans in place to cover two emergencies, are following national guidance and providing the right mix of staff to cover the out-of-hours service.

There are eight surgical teams who operate at the Jessop Wing. Some already have a support worker instead of a nurse. Other teams will see the change of staffing gradually phased in.

Today a member of staff, who asked not to be named, said there are genuine concerns there may not be enough time to get an additional nurse to the Jessop Wing if two emergencies were to happen simultaneously.

"This is potentially very, very serious. If the theatre department was to get two emergencies at once, which happens quite frequently, there is quite often not time for a second nurse to get to Jessop's theatre, putting both patient and unborn baby at risk," said the worker. "There has been, on a number of occasions, no second nurse available from the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, leaving the second table at Jessop's uncovered."

Staff claim the changes are motivated by the desire to save money.

Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which manages the Jessop Wing, Northern General, Hallamshire, Weston Park and Charles Clifford Dental hospitals, denied the changes will put mothers and babies at risk or are motivated by the need to save money.

Chief Nurse Hilary Scholefield said the trust had no record of any incidents where the second theatre was not covered. She said a review of staffing showed they had more qualified staff working out of hours than were needed and some staff now work during the day when there are more patients in need of their skills.

Ms Scholefield added: "The safety of patients is our key priority when making decisions about service delivery."