Weston General Hospital defends strike exemption

UHBW's chief executive Eugine Yafele said patient safety and safe staffing were "at the heart" of the trust's decisions

A hospital boss has insisted his team would never "wittingly or unwittingly mislead" unions over staffing levels.

It follows claims Weston General Hospital management "abused" a deal to get seven junior doctors back into work during last week's four-day strike.

"The facts that we presented in terms of the number of staff we had on duty did not change prior to the derogation being issued," said Eugine Yafele.

Mr Yafele said the trust was planning for the next industrial action.

He said the University Hospital Bristol and Weston NHS Trust (UHBW) was working to rearrange patient appointments and treatments.

The BMA said Weston General Hospital did not need the extra staff it requested

The British Medical Association (BMA) accused the trust, which also runs the BRI and Bristol Children's Hospital, of misleading it and NHS England after Weston Hospital managers asked for the doctors to help cover workforce shortages, only for them not to be needed after all.

The BMA revoked the agreement - called a derogation - which is allowed as part of NHS strike contingency plans and said UHBW was either unaware it had sufficient staff numbers or it deliberately misled the union.

At a trust board meeting on 18 April Mr Yafele said: "I categorically want to assure the board that we do not mislead wittingly or unwittingly."

He said when the derogation was agreed, the issue in terms of staffing "had not changed materially - so in many respects the information that we gave was accurate, albeit that we had a fast-changing picture in terms of staffing".

He added: "Needless to say that it is difficult when we have to balance the need for us to maintain safety and safe services as well as respecting colleagues' right to take industrial action.

"The real impact is obviously the cancellation of procedures and appointments for patients."

He said until there was a resolution, the trust would continue to put patient safety and safe staffing "at the heart" of its decisions.

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