Cambridge hospitals turning away staff over lack of homes

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said the problem of finding homes for staff was "acute"

A hospital trust said it was turning away 20 potential staff a month because it could not find housing for them.

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said the issue could have an impact on hospital services.

The trust runs Addenbrooke's Hospital and the Rosie maternity hospital in the city.

David Wherrett, trust director of workforce, said the lack of accommodation "is a problem and currently we have no solution to it".

Mr Wherrett told a board of directors meeting that the problem had "never been more acute", the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

"I try to keep my blood pressure even when talking about accommodation," he said.

"Particularly for international recruits, we have to provide accommodation and we are having a hard time finding that accommodation in Cambridge.

"The university of course built a whole new community in Cambridge to meet its needs, but we just don't have that capacity."

House prices in Cambridge are among some of the highest in the UK outside London

He also said he now questioned a decision to convert previous staff accommodation into offices.

Mr Wherrett added: "Also, after the first few months staff look to move to private or other housing and that is hard. Staff have to make a choice about staying in Cambridge or not."

In a report from the trust chief executive, Roland Sinker, he said the cost of living in Cambridge was cited as one of the main reasons why staff choose to leave the trust, and attrition rates were increasing to a pre-pandemic level of 13.9%, which rose to 14.8% for nurses and midwives, and 17.4% for healthcare scientists.

Mr Wherrett and Mr Sinker both told the meeting that the trust was looking at ways to increase the accommodation that it could offer.