Hospital admits it can't treat head injury patients in A & E

A shortage of casualty nurses means patients with head injuries have to be transferred to the orthopaedic wards a specialist department for the treatment of broken bones. Modern care standards demand that head injury patients should be cared for by accident and emergency doctors.

But a shortage of casualty nurses at the University Hospital of North Durham means that patients are admitted to wards normally reserved for patients recovering from hip and joint operations.

Bosses at the £97m privately-financed NHS hospital stress that the patients remain under the care of A and E doctors - but Royal College of Surgeons' guidelines means that orthopaedic doctors are not allowed to treat them.

The latest revelation will come as another blow to the hospital which has been dogged by controversy ever since it opened.

Earlier this year doctors who run the Durham A and E unit complained that it would be unsafe to care for head injury patients in their short stay ward unless more nurses were appointed.

However, trust bosses have said that the extra five nurses needed to fully staff the unit could not be appointed until April 2003.

The concerns of doctors are reflected in a report due to be discussed at the North Durham Health Care NHS Trust board meeting tomorrow.

In the report, which was written in January, a senior consultant said: "the current management of intermediate head injuries is unsatisfactory in this hospital at the present time."

The report estimates that at least 5 extra nurses would be required to "keep these patients safely in the A and E short stay ward."

A spokesman for the North Durham Trust said the issues had been raised by A and E staff in January and the problem had been resolved.

"The patients remain under the care of A and E medical staff," the trust spokesman added.

Seven extra nurses and two doctors recently joined the busy unit and it is hoped that a third consultant will be appointed next month.