Two junior doctors were left to care for more than 400 patients at a Plymouth hospital during a night shift, a report has revealed.



The pressures on staffing at the Derriford hospital came to light in an anonymous concern raised by a doctor who said the situation was a “very unsafe shift from the patient perspective”.

The report was published as part of the Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust board papers from July, and said the doctor was pulled from a breast surgery day job at 11am to be asked to cover medical nights.

The issue was raised on 23 May. The report said: “Told on the phone that the deputy medical director had talked to my consultant and said I must do this, as there would otherwise only be a single SHO (senior house officer) looking after all of the medical patients in the hospital.

“After discussion with my consultant we reluctantly agreed that the best measure from a patient safety perspective would be for me to attend this shift, despite it being unsafe and bad for my personal training/development. Unfortunately, I did not manage much sleep before coming in for the night due to the short notice.

“Between myself and the other SHO on ward cover we were responsible for the care of 436 patients between the two of us, while carrying the crash bleep which covers the whole hospital.”

Other staff on the ward included one doctor, and two senior house officers and a house officer – known as an F1 – working in the medical assessment unit.

The report concluded: “(We) want it to be noted while having done our best; this was a very unsafe shift from the patient perspective.”

Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust said the paper detailed what it referred to as “exception reporting”, meaning these issues were not the norm. It added it took the issues of staffing and doctor recruitment seriously and was working to improve the situation.