Eleven new medics appointed by north Cumbria hospitals trust

The Carlisle and Whitehaven hospitals, which face a potential £64m overspend this year, blame the high cost of agency staff due to problems securing permanent staff.

Information obtained by the News & Star revealed that as of September, more than a quarter of all full time consultant posts at North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust were vacant.

However bosses say they have made significant progress in the past few months, with a total of 11 appointments across the Cumberland Infirmary and West Cumberland Hospital.

They include specialists in anaesthetics, paediatrics and cancer.

Among them is Dr Tom Sams, a consultant in anaesthetics and intensive care - traditionally one of the areas difficult to recruit staff - to work in both Carlisle and Whitehaven.

Having trained in Sheffield and the north east, was keen to settle in Cumbria. “I was really pleased to take up this post, having worked for the Trust before as a registrar,” he explained. “Most of my consultant work involves providing intensive care cover across the Trust.”

Dr Katie Poulton has also become the first acute care physician to be based at Whitehaven, having been appointed late last year.  

Originally from Cockermouth, she did some of her registrar training at the trust and said she was pleased to be back - specialising in a relatively new area. She explained: “I look after medically unwell adults in the first 72 hours of admission after they come through A&E. Patients may have conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy or an infection and my job is stabilise them, initiate treatment and make a plan for their care."

The trust has also appointed Dr Olaniyi Kehinde as a paediatric consultant, based at the Cumberland Infirmary. 

He has worked across England and Scotland and has a special interest in childhood epilepsy. 

North Cumbria's hospitals are currently in special measures due to concerns raised by inspectors, including the trust's long-standing staffing issues.

The so-called Success Regime was set up to tackle these problems in the hospitals and across the wider local healthcare system.

Dr Kehinde said this did not put him off joining.“It is an exciting time to join a forward-looking organisation and be part of a team of professionals working together to ensure sustained quality improvement of children’s healthcare in Cumbria," he explained.

Another recent recruit is Dr Almudena Cascales, a consultant clinical oncologist. Her areas of specialist interest are urology, lung and breast cancer and she is keen to look at patient pathways, ensuring patients get the specialist care they need as soon as possible. 

Originally from Madrid, Dr Cascales has also worked at the prestigious Institut Gustave Roussy, a large specialist oncology centre near Paris, and was keen to take up a permanent post in the UK due to the high standard of research activity here. 

“I was keen to take up a substantive post to enable me to develop my skills, and also develop the hospital’s services as well,” she explained.

Dr Derek Thomson, hospitals' medical director, said: “Although we are still facing some real recruitment challenges, it is very encouraging to have welcomed new medical talent to our hospitals. 

"We are continuing to work extremely hard to attract more clinical staff to join us and are addressing this as part of our work with the Success Regime.”

The full list of recent appointments are:

• Consultant in anaesthetics and intensive care, Dr Tom Sams
• Consultant in paediatrics, Dr Olaniyi Kehinde
• Consultant clinical oncologist, Dr Almudena Cascales
• Consultant in respiratory medicine, Dr John Atkinson
• Consultant cardiologist, Dr Jacek Majewski
• Consultant anaesthetist, Dr Kaled El-Nagar
• Consultant anaesthetist, Dr Rod Harpin
• Consultant paediatrician, Dr Shahul Sikkander Shaw
• Consultant histopathologist, Dr Susan Davies
• Consultant urologist, Mr Matthieu Bordenave
• Acute care physician, Dr Katie Poulton