Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital bids to fill 600 nursing vacancies to ease waiting lists
Watch a report on NHS nursing vacancies by ITV News Anglia's Rob Setchell
One of the East's biggest hospitals has revealed it is looking to fill 600 vacant nursing jobs as it bids to ease pressure in wards and cut waiting lists.
The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) is experiencing pressures echoed across the country, as waiting lists hit a new record high across England.
In England, almost 6.5 million people were waiting to start routine treatment at the end of March - the highest number since NHS records began in 2007.
Despite the huge nursing vacancy list - against a backdrop of a workforce of 10,000 people - bosses said they had plans to have that number in the coming months. A key factor has been pressure on staffing levels in social care and hospitals, with absence rates rising throughout the pandemic. At the NNUH staff come from 97 different countries across the world, and bosses continue to try to attract more.
Until two months ago, 24-year-old Tinyan Igiegbefumwen had never left Nigeria - now she is in her third week on the neurological ward, bolstering a stretched workforce. She told ITV News Anglia: "It's been quite a journey. Growing up I didn't really see myself being a nurse but I went to secondary school and passed the exams.
"I've loved it actually. I've loved helping people - seeing them get better - it's really been fantastic." Hospitals in the East of England and across the country have become used to being under pressure with ambulance handover delays, busy wards, thousands on the waiting list and staff off with Covid. Pressure on social care services is also felt in Norwich. Earlier this year, patients fit enough to be discharged but without a care package were moved to a nearby hotel to free up beds.
Although the NNUH currently has about 600 nursing vacancies, bosses said they hoped that would be halved in the coming months. The associate director of education at the hospital, Lucy Arora, said: "We've got 100 first post qualified nurses joining us between June and September.
"We also have around 100 nurses that have trained and worked internationally coming to join us along side 100 nurses that have been trained nationally to come and join us at the Norfolk and Norwich as well."
The chief nurse, Prof Nancy Fontaine, said: "The pandemic helped in one way because people came and answered the call to arms but also the pandemic has caused battle fatigue and that is a concern."