Salisbury District Hospital has 500 staff vacancies, CEO says

Salisbury District Hospital's CEO says recruitment is the biggest issue the hospital is facing

A Wiltshire hospital says it has about 500 vacancies to fill, mostly for non-medical staff but also for some doctors and nurses.

The CEO of Salisbury District Hospital, Stacey Hunter, says recruitment is a "significant challenge."

The hospital has increased the lowest wage it offers to the UK's living wage of £10.90 an hour, in the hope it can retain and attract new staff.

It says this will be more cost effective than using agency staff.

Ms Hunter said the cost of living meant many workers were leaving for jobs that offered a higher hourly rate. She said that hospitals were bound by lots of terms and conditions but had enough flexibility to offer the increased pay.

A newly created and refurbished discharge ward has also been helping the hospital cope when busy

With nurse recruitment, the hospital is involved in looking for staff internationally alongside the whole of the south-west region, which, according to Ms Hunter, is "proving fruitful."

She said the NHS was "resource constrained" but the biggest problem was not money: "I wouldn't say to you that we didn't need more investment of a money type but, actually, the workforce is the more predominant issue for us at the moment."

The hospital is also looking to recruit people as reservists - a scheme launched across the NHS earlier this year. The roles are paid and do not need prior experience or training.

In October, people were warned not to attend the A&E unless they had a life-threatening illness or serious injury, after it reached full capacity with a large number of patients waiting to be discharged.

In July, the hospital declared an internal "critical incident".

It said this was due to an increased length of ambulance handover delays, staff sickness and the number of patients waiting to be discharged.