Following a review into the provision of nursing care at Noble’s Hospital the Council of Ministers has agreed to allow the Department of Health and Social Care to recruit up to 28.73 additional nurses.  The move is estimated to save half a million pounds a year.
 
Minister for Health and Social Care, Howard Quayle MHK, said: “This is a win-win situation for both patients and the taxpayer.  It will ensure we provide the best possible nursing care for the people of the Isle of Man whilst at the same time delivering better value for money.
 
“The Department has presented a robust case for additional nursing resources at Noble’s Hospital to the Council of Ministers which has approved the request.  This means that we can better meet the growing demand for complex nursing care required for highly dependent patients. 
 
“As well as benefiting patients, this will assist our dedicated staff who have been increasingly stretched and reliant on temporary nurses to help meet demand.  Temporary staff are expensive, with higher hourly rates of pay given the flexibility required and lack of job security.
 
“By recruiting more nurses and reducing our reliance on temporary staff we estimate that there will be a saving of half a million pounds each year from 2015.”
 
The increase in demand for complex nursing care is primarily a result of the growing dependence of patients, particularly in older people with conditions such as dementia.  These patients require more nursing intervention as part of their care, which means that nurses are spending more time caring for each patient than would have previously been the case.
 
In light of this, the Chief Nurse initiated a review to determine the number of nurses required to provide safe and effective care for patients at Noble’s Hospital.  Dr Keith Hurst, a UK based independent researcher and leading expert in safe staffing levels, assisted with the review which updated a similar piece of work by Noble’s Hospital in 2008/09 which he also undertook with the nursing teams.
 
Commenting on the findings of the review, DHSC Chief Executive, Mark Charters, said: “Health care has long moved on from the days where the number of beds in a hospital would determine the number of nurses required.  Our review has used an internationally recognised tool that examines a number of factors, such as measuring the dependency of patients and the workload of nurses.
 
“The findings have confirmed that we were right to bolster our staffing with temporary nurses to address the growing demand for complex care.  We now need to reduce our reliance on temporary staff and the higher costs involved by recruiting additional nurses in permanent jobs for six wards at Noble’s Hospital – primarily for the acute medical wards, A&E and the Intensive Care Unit.
 
“The Department appreciates that Government has worked diligently to reduce the number of people employed in the public sector in recent years to help rebalance the Budget.  However protecting the vulnerable is one of the key priorities for Government and safeguarding frontline health and social care services is key to this.  To function safely and effectively we must ensure that we have the appropriate quality and quantity of healthcare staff.  Only then can we secure a standard of care of which the people of the Isle of Man can rightly be proud.”