Ashgate Hospice: Nurses 'absolutely devastated' as Chesterfield hospice advertises new nursing role following 'heartbreaking' redundancies

Ashgate Hospice is currently looking for a Registered Nurse to join their team on a 12-month fixed term contract.

The newly advertised job vacancy comes just weeks after the financially-stranded hospice carried out redundancies affecting 33 employees across clinical and support teams.

Some members of staff who have worked at the hospice for over 10 years were left without a job – with some redundancies taking place in the run up to Christmas.

Jane O’Brian, East Midlands Senior Regional Officer at Royal College of Nursing who has been supporting nurses at Ashgate Hospice has spoken about the impact the job advert had on former nurses at the hospice.

She said: "Nurses are absolutely devastated. It’s heartbreaking. They could have saved jobs of our members who felt that they were forced to leave Ashgate Hospice, leave their team which felt like a family and the job that they loved for years.

"We have a member of staff who is still unemployed following redundancy – while Ashgate advertises a new 12 month contract. It’s ridiculous.

"Some nurses who had their hours reduced were only offered temporary increase in hours until June and have not been offered anymore later, while the new role is for a fixed term of 12 months. It doesn’t feel very fair.”

Jane O’Brian further explained that nurses working at the hospice have been under pressure since the redundancies went ahead.

She said: "Nurses who are still at Ashgate feel that things have deteriorated significantly since the redundancies.

"They don’t have the same time for patients because the in patient ward is understaffed.

"Some nurses said that sometimes they only have enough time to give a patient a pill, but they can’t provide the same level of care and support that they were able to offer before. They are heartbroken.”

Ashgate Hospice said the role was created after Save a Precious Bed appeal raised £550,000.

A spokesperson for the hospice said: “Ashgate Hospice is here to provide safe, high-quality end of life care, and every staffing decision we make is guided by our commitment to providing outstanding care, patient safety and the long-term sustainability of the hospice.

"The recently advertised Registered Nurse roles are fixed-term posts that are directly funded by the community’s Save a Precious Bed appeal.

"The success of that appeal means we have been able to secure funding to keep two additional inpatient beds open for the next 12 months, and these time-limited roles are needed to ensure those beds can be staffed safely and consistently.

"Before advertising externally, these opportunities were first shared internally with colleagues affected by the consultation, offered as additional hours within the existing team, and made available to bank staff.

"As we were not able to fill the vacancies this way the roles are now being advertised externally. This is normal business as usual procedure following last year’s consultation.

“Ashgate Hospice is an outstanding hospice. The Inpatient Unit is staffed in line with the highest clinical standards, and nurse-to-patient ratios have not reduced.

"We recognise how difficult the consultation period was for many colleagues, and we remain committed to supporting our staff and being open about the decisions we make.

“We are deeply grateful to our community for their extraordinary generosity, which is enabling more people to be cared for at the hospice over the coming year.”

Ashgate Hospice said that Save the Precious Bed campaign helped keep three additional beds open for the 12 months after previously stating the campaign helped to prevent further redundancies.

In a statement issued at the beginning of January, a spokesperson for the hospice said: “During our consultation process, we listened to staff feedback and suggestions about different ways that we could deliver our care and this – combined with 14 voluntary redundancies and the community’s support for our Save a Precious Bed appeal - meant that we were able to save jobs and that no services had to stop completely. In total, 19 roles have been made redundant, including five inpatient nurses.”

A spokesperson for the hospice clarified that the role was offered to nursing staff who were asked to take a mandatory redundancy – but not to the members of staff who decided to take a voluntary redundancy.

Jane O’Brian claimed the hospice did not offer the role to colleagues affected by the redundancies or reduced hours before it was advertised externally and nurses were ‘shocked’ to see the hospice comment.

She added that the role was offered to some colleagues affected by redundancies on Wednesday, February 4 after the Derbyshire Times contacted the hospice to ask if nurses who had lost their jobs would be offered the role.

The Derbyshire Times additionally asked Ashgate Hospice how many nurses were needed to provide care for patients using two additional beds.

Ashgate did not respond to the question and failed to confirm how many additional nurses would be hired.

Ashgate Hospice failed to confirm if the ratio of nurses to beds has changed following the redundancies and if the hospice was understaffed.