Hospital tried £30k bonus to hire ICU consultants

Furness General Hospital only has three permanent consultants in post

A £30,000 bonus was not enough to recruit consultants to an intensive care unit which is facing closure, an NHS trust has said.

Earlier this year, Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) said it intended to close the level 3 unit at Furness General Hospital (FGH) in Barrow-in-Furness due to staff shortages and lack of demand.

Local Labour MP Michelle Scrogham previously said she did not believe the board had put "enough work" into finding staff for the unit.

Dr Helen Skinner, the chief medical officer for the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Trust (UHMBT), said the team tried "many ways" to recruit staff and failed.

Level 3 care, for those who need life support for multiple organ failure, is currently suspended at the hospital.

The sickest patients are currently being stabilised there before being transferred 46 miles (74km) away to Royal Lancaster Infirmary.

Although no decision has been made to close the unit, if the plan was taken on board, it would be permanent.

Michelle Scrogham, Labour MP for Barrow and Furness, raised questions about the proposals

FGH only has three permanent consultants in post against a national guidance requirement of eight, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Scrogham previously said she did not believe "enough work to actually find the staff" for the ward had taken place.

"I don't believe there was ever a plan," she said. "They didn't actually want to staff it at Barrow.

"I think the plan all along has been that they want to remove that service."

In response, Dr Skinner said Barrow faced multiple recruitment challenges, including the fact it was "far from major cities".

She said the team had tried multiple hiring strategies including offering up to £30,000 per consultant as an incentive.

Staff had also attended national conferences promoting Barrow as a place to live and work, and the trust had advertised jobs.

Dr Skinner said the trust had even had to pay higher finder's fees to staffing agencies to fill its rotas.