Over 100 new nurses employed for Lincolnshire hospitals

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) have employed over 100 newly qualified nurses for hospitals across the county.

This comes after ULHT was placed into special measures earlier this summer by NHS England medical director Bruce Keogh due to inadequate staffing levels and poor patient experience.

As previously reported, the Trust set aside £4 million in order to employ more nurses to keep up with the increasing demands of patients.

This year has seen a large influx of nurses to the Trust, with over 150 recruited since April, after recruitment was expanded to Ireland and Spain.

Lincoln County Hospital undertook a two-week induction programme with the latest nurses, providing them with the information needed to help them onto the wards.

They will also take part in a number of training sessions such as observations, documentation, safeguarding, information governance and pain and medication management.

Surgery Matron Linda Keddie said: “There has been a real buzz on the wards not only from the new starters, who have been able to ask advice and share any concerns they have, but also from our existing staff members, who have really embraced the programme in order to provide the new staff with all the support they need.”

Eiri Jones, Director of Nursing for United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “I have already seen examples of excellent compassion in care by the new nurses and we will continue to support all our nursing staff to ensure we deliver care of the highest quality to our patients.

“These new nurses will enable us to build on the excellent improvements in care we have already made, at a time when the acuity and dependency of patients with more complex needs is increasing.

“We believe that by supporting our clinical staff through robust induction and ongoing training we will continue to drive improvements in care, enable us to deliver compassionate, high quality care and meet the individual needs of our patients.”