Bosses at King's Mill Hospital say recruitment is 'top priority' with one in 20 posts vacant

The figures come as a staff body for nurses says NHS nurses are being put under “intolerable pressure” as there “simply aren't enough of them”.

New figures from NHS England show 5.5 per cent of full-time equivalent positions at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust – which runs King’s Mill and Mansfield Community Hospital – were unfilled as of the end of December, but this had dropped to 3 per cent by the end of March 2022. Of 212 trusts across England, 79 – 37 per cent – had a vacancy rate of 10 per cent or more.

Rob Simcox, SFH director of people, said: “Recruiting and retaining hard-working NHS staff is a top priority and we are actively working to address these national issues that we also experience here at Sherwood.

“We work closely with education providers including West Nottinghamshire College and Nottingham Trent University to create clear pathways and opportunities for people to get into meaningful, local employment – no matter what their educational background.

“SFH remains the best acute trust to receive care and to work for in the Midlands, as voted for by our own staff. We offer a range of free mental and physical wellbeing support to our colleagues both at work and in their home lives. We are exceptionally proud of and thank them for their hard work and commitment to providing excellent care for our patients during times of continued pressure.”

Nationally, the vacancy rate for nurses has risen from 9.9 per cent in March 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic, to 10.8 per cent at the end of last year.

Pat Cullen, Royal College of Nursing general secretary, said: “Recruiting and retaining nursing staff in the NHS has become a serious challenge on the back of over a decade of pay cuts.”

She said a lack of staff was impacting the quality of care they can provide to patients.

“Until we begin to turn the tide and fill these vacant posts, the NHS will not be able to tackle the backlog in care. This is why we are urging the Health Secretary to get back round the table and negotiate with us," she added.

Across NHS trusts in the Midlands, 9,252, 12.2 per cent, nursing positions and 2,313 – 9 per cent – doctors’ roles were unfilled at the end of December 2022.

For all NHS trust staff in the region, 9.4 per cent of positions were unfilled – up from 8.6 per cent a year before.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokeman said: “There are record numbers of staff working in the NHS, with more than 51,500 more people compared with a year ago, including more than 5,300 more doctors and more than 12,300 more nurses.

“We want to build on this progress and will publish a workforce plan shortly to ensure we have the right numbers of staff, with the right skills to transform and deliver high quality services fit for the future.”