Nurse left to run hospital ward

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Staffing levels at a hospital are at such low levels that one nurse was left to run a 30-bed ward earlier this month, a campaign group has claimed.

The Save Bridlington Hospital Campaign Action Group said the East Yorkshire site was being hit by cost cutting.

MP Greg Knight said the well-being of local people was being put at risk.

But the hospital trust said the incident was due to a nurse reporting sick "at very short notice", and patient safety was never compromised.

Mick Pilling, chairman of the campaign group, said: "This situation is ludicrous. I can't believe it's come to this.

"The nurses do a great job but they are put under extreme pressure by the situation they are in.

"How are they supposed to cope?"

'Immediate arrangements'

Bridlington Hospital is part of the Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare Trust which announced job cuts last summer involving 600 staff in a bid to deal with its budget deficit.

But the proposals were shelved following negotiations with the Strategic Health Authority, which agreed to pay off debts in return for a commitment to balance the books.

Mr Knight, who is the Tory MP for East Yorkshire, said: "This is a shocking state of affairs which should have never been allowed to have happened.

"It's just one more example of the health trust failing to discharge their duty in Bridlington."

Iain McInnes, chief executive of the Scarborough and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust, said that a nurse reported sick "at very short notice" on 3 May, leaving the Thornton Ward with just one nurse for the late shift.

He said the ward, which is a general ward treating male and female patients, normally operated with two qualified staff as a minimum.

"Immediate arrangements were made to cover the ward," he said.

"However, following the additional cover being arranged, there was a period from 1700 to 2015 BST when the ward was covered by one of Thornton Ward's own qualified nurses supported by additional qualified nurse cover from two other areas of the hospital."

"Patient safety was not compromised at any time during the course of the shift period," he added.