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25
Mar
Figures reveal how many planned-for nurses were missing at Harrogate hospital
New figures have revealed the gap between how many nurses Harrogate hospital plans to have on wards and how many there actually are.
The data obtained by Channel 4 News — which is known as “nurse fill rate” — shows the drop off in how many planned nurses on wards were missing on average between January 2023 and November 2024.
It shows the number of missing nurses on wards, including neo-natal, critical care and maternity, at hospitals across England.
The health service has systems in place to estimate how many nurses will be required to staff each hospital ward — this is based on data on the number of patients they expect to have and how ill they are.
The Freedom of Information request shows that on average 9% of nurses were missing from all wards at Harrogate District Hospital in the 22-month period.
The figures also revealed that 4% were missing from neo-natal, 12% from critical care and 14% from maternity than were planned for.
The Stray Ferret asked Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust why the planned nurses were missing and what it was doing to rectify it.
A trust spokesperson said:
Each ward has different staffing requirements depending on the number of patients and the level of care required. We monitor staffing levels and take appropriate action to ensure safe care can be maintained each day. For example, where additional staffing is needed on a ward, such as in the case of staff sickness, we may move staff from quieter wards to those which have a greater need. As a consequence, nursing/midwifery staffing may appear to be lower on wards not fully occupied with patients, even though there is an appropriate number of staff to take care of those patients.
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust is committed to developing our nurses for the future and we have been actively working to increase the number of nursing staff within our trust. Over the last year we have reduced our vacant nursing roles from 4.99 percent to 2.95 percent due to successful recruitment and retention of staff.
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