Enniskillen: Neonatal unit cuts ongoing due to nurse shortages

A shortage of neonatal nurses has led to a reduction in cots in a hospital unit providing special care for sick and premature babies.

The South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, usually operates six special care cots in its neonatal unit.

But for the last six months only emergency care has been available via two "stabilisation cots" in the unit.

The Western Health Trust said its bid to fill the vacancies was "ongoing".

"Over recent years/months many senior experienced neonatal nurses have left due to retirement, to pursue a different career pathway or to accommodate a better family life balance. This has left a huge depletion of experienced neonatal nurses," a spokeswoman for the trust said.

The reduction in SWAH's neonatal beds was first reported in Monday's Belfast Telegraph, but the decision to cut cot numbers and move solely to emergency and stabilisation services was taken late last year when Northern Ireland's entire health service was under unprecedented pressure from Covid-19 cases.

"In November 2021, the staffing crisis was more apparent due to staff sickness and isolation," the Western Trust's statement said.

"It was at this stage that senior clinicians and management decided to transfer all ladies less than 36 weeks gestation and provide emergency and stabilisation care only to babies who required a higher level of care."

The trust added that it had run an "extensive" recruitment campaign but despite repeatedly advertising the empty posts in recent years, it had only been able to recruit one part-time neonatal nurse.

To run the SWAH neonatal unit with a full staff, the trust requires 11.97 nurses working whole time equivalent (WTE) hours of 37.5 per week, but it currently only has 7.15 WTE staff in the unit.

Even with the recent reduction in cot numbers, the trust admitted there have been "a number of occasions" when it did not have two experienced neonatal nurses on the shift.

"Midwives and paediatric nurses work some shifts as the second person but they need to be supervised and supported by an experienced neonatal nurse," its spokeswoman explained.

A fortnight ago, a staff shortage led to a temporary closure of the unit for a 12-hour period on Saturday 21 May.

The trust said "there were no neonatal nurses available to work" on that particular day.

"The trust senior clinical and management teams held an emergency meeting on Friday afternoon after all options had been explored to get cover for the emergency absence," its spokeswoman said.

"This meeting was to discuss all options required in order to provide emergency care to babies born during this period. These plans were shared with paediatric and maternity staff."

The South West Acute Hospital is one of the most modern hospitals in Northern Ireland and is just days away from marking its 10th anniversary.

It opened in June 2012 at a cost of £276m, but has struggled with the same recruitment problems that have affected many other parts of the NHS.