Cumbria hospital seeks help easing 'recruitment famine'

A recruitment drive was launched in October to solve Whitehaven staff shortages

Health trusts in northern England have been asked to help tackle a staffing shortage at a Cumbria hospital.

Specialist acute medicine and emergency admission doctors are needed at the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven.

Staffing issues at the hospital are long-running. In October junior doctors were taken off wards because there were too few senior staff to supervise them.

Trust medical director Dr Jeremy Rushmer said they were facing a "recruitment famine".

Only about 60% of GP training posts had been filled in the north of England so all trusts were "suffering a little bit", he said.

"We're not the only hospital in the country to have difficulties recruiting at a number of levels," he added.

"The difficulty at West Cumberland is that, when you're isolated and small, you feel the effects of this recruitment famine more keenly."