“Disillusioned” staff at Salford Royal Hospital are leaving their jobs because of issues with senior leaders, a councillor has said. The situation has left the hospital with a number of “unhappy” former staff members who decided to go elsewhere, he claimed. The comments were made in a town hall scrutiny meeting on June 5, when hospital bosses were grilled over Salford Royal’s performance. The hospital is run by the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust. A damning report from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in 2022 found that staff at the hospital ‘did not always feel respected, supported and valued’, and ‘did not always feel listened to.’ The inspection focused on the quality of emergency care services at the hospital. John Warmisham, a Salford councillor representing Pendleton and Charlestown, told senior leaders at the Trust that they have “failed” the city. He said: “In the community there’s still the perception that Salford Royal is failing the city and things aren’t changing. “People in the Salford community are very unhappy with some of the services they receive at Salford Royal. “Also there’s a lot of staff disillusionment, I’d really like to know about your recruitment and retention, because I know a number of people that have left Salford Royal because they’re unhappy with the working standards and the management.” The councillor added that he was “really shocked” at the 2022 CQC report and that Salford Royal “would drop so low.” The Northern Care Alliance was asked for a response, and pointed out a number of ways that it is trying to turn things around. This includes improvements to safety in the hospital’s Emergency Department, with further training for staff on eating disorders, learning disabilities, and sepsis. Changes to staffing have been made, with more nurses in the Emergency Department to help with ‘corridor nursing’ at times of high demand. Salford Royal is also trying to improve the flow of patients and waiting times, with a ‘Days Kept Away From Home’ scheme to reduce the time people are kept in hospital. David Thorpe, director of nursing at Salford Care Organisation, said there are “hard facts” about how the hospital has improved, and that he and the executive team “take their responsibility very seriously with what’s happened.” He added: “This [report] was 2022, coming to the end of more or less two years of the pandemic and the challenges that had. I don’t want to make it an excuse, but it was part of the issue. “Organisations were outstanding and going to requires improvement – it’s not just Salford.” Responding to issues with staff retention at Salford Royal, Mr Thorpe said that vacancy rates are currently one or two percent, a figure which used to be around 17pc. Despite the progress, more concerns were raised by councillors about how staff are being treated by senior leaders. Coun Irfan Syed said that he was told a group of experienced workers “went off sick as a protest” over how they were treated by hospital managers. Mr Thorpe acknowledged there was a “crisis of staff sickness” in a dermatology ward in January and February, but that it has been resolved. He added that staff at Salford Royal are “aware and confident in the journey going forward.”
