Urgent appeal for weekend nurses and clinical staff

An urgent appeal has been issued for registered nurses and other clinical staff to help boost staffing levels at the RD&E Hospital in Exeter this weekend.

Suzanne Tracey, RD&E Chief Executive, said: “We are appealing to all clinical staff available to work at our main Wonford site in Exeter this weekend to please contact the hospital on 01392 411611 (or directly ring the staff hub on 01392 406172) urgently. Our greatest need at this time is for registered nurses.

“Due to the impact of the severe weather on normal staffing, the Trust now needs extra staff to boost numbers this weekend to help continue providing safe levels of care to our urgent and emergency patients.

“Any staff already rostered to work on Saturday, particularly nurses, are urged to make every safe effort to come in for the whole or at least part of their scheduled shift tomorrow. If they have any problems getting in then please call the hospital and we will endeavour to arrange transport to and from their shift, as well as all accommodation and mealtime needs for as long as necessary. In addition we'd also appreciate a call from any staff from neighbouring hospitals who can’t reach their usual base but live close to the RDE and could help out.

“We are also looking for other volunteer staff to come in this weekend and help run our severe weather accommodation and transport hubs.

“As ever we are extremely grateful to all our staff for their ongoing incredible work during the severe weather and we sincerely thank anyone who is able to donate some extra time and skill to keep our patients safe and well this weekend.

"Finally I'd like to add that we are hugely grateful to all those 4x4 drivers who have helped us so far. If any other 4x4 drivers can help this weekend please contact the Exeter Transport Hub on 01392 403913 as soon as possible."