Housing junior doctors, nurses and paramedics on the Island has become such a problem health services have started to be affected, the Isle of Wight NHS Trust board heard.
Key medical staff were said not to be taking jobs or filling short-term positions at the hospital due to the lack of accommodation.
The situation had recently got worse as holiday accommodation, which was used during the pandemic lockdown, was now being used by staycationers.
With an increase in ambulance activity, to higher than pre-pandemic levels, the service cannot be supplemented by private teams as they had been in the past, due to the difficulty of providing the accommodation for their crews.
Chief operating officer Joe Smyth told the board meeting the short-term recruitment issues were causing a risk, particularly in the emergency department. He said:
“The risk is a shortage of short-term accommodation on the Island and we are finding it very, very difficult to fill posts on a locum or a bank basis for a few weeks because people simply cannot find accommodation on the Island.”
Medical director, Dr Steve Parker, said there was approximately a 15% vacancy rate across the medical workforce, although it varied between services and divisions and temporary staff were being used to help fill the gaps.
Lois Holwell, director of governance and risk, said though there had been some success in recruitment in other areas, there were some challenging pockets to fill and retain staff. This had the potential to cause significant problems. A project group has been established to tackle the problem, as new staff have had to consider commuting across the Solent due to the housing problems.
The trust has appealed to those on the Island who might be able to provide accommodation, from rooms and small apartments to family homes, preferably furnished to come forward. If you are able to offer accommodation to rent please contact the human resources department at St. Mary’s on 01983 822099 ext: 3720 or email [email protected].
How strange…accommodation is found for the daily immigrants from France no problem…..
… but perhaps not to the standard fully-trained medics deserve?
Meanwhile, a day off for the sub-editors.
Yes – funny how the council can find accomodation for every sob story, benefit claimant, asylum seeker and dead beat going, however, none can be found for these staff members.
Perhaps the council should re-think its strategy of accepting all these mainlanders and paying private landlords the rent benefit, then there would be more availability of flats for short term leasing to workers.
Well said …
Blame the council for building houses and increasing the island population.
So the conversion of the nurses accommodation at the North Hospital into offices wasn’t such a good idea after all.
I would ask second home owners, most of their properties are empty 50 weeks of the year.
We have lots of unused shops. Turn them into flats. More customers for the smaller shops in town
This is what happens when the council listen to the NIMBY lot and stop new houses from being built. Concreate proof that the NIMBY lot are killing the island. These are the same people that attack someone for moving to the island without considering that they may have moved here to supply the community much needed services. Instead they try their best to stop anyone coming here claiming they are all benefits scroungers. Well done, you reap what you sow.
fred – best not say anything eh – you are making yourself look stupid
Well said Fred , and don’t forget the lack of decent education and un-educated youth’s that are being chucked out into society and unsuitable for these jobs