THERE is a shortage of doctors and nurses working at hospitals in Worcestershire.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust should be employing 705 doctors and 1,837 nurses but has a shortage of 111 doctors and 164 nurses.

The Trust has blamed the high number of vacancies on a 'prolonged period of uncertainty' and national shortages of staff.

A British Medical Association spokesman said: “These figures are further evidence of an overstretched NHS and the result of poor workforce planning by the government.

“Appropriate staffing is fundamental, not only to ensure that sufficient education and training is provided to doctors but also to guarantee that patient safety is maintained.

“To ensure this unacceptable situation doesn’t get worse, it is vital that the government tackles underlying issues such as an unprecedented workload and falling resources, which are causing staff shortages across the health service.”

Tim Baggs, communications manager for the Royal College of Nursing, said: "We estimate there are around 4,000 vacancies for registered nurses in the NHS across the West Midlands region, and more than 40,000 in the whole of England.

"The highest proportion of these unfilled posts are in acute hospital trusts.

"The new Government must urgently address this crisis in the supply of nurses – starting with awarding a long overdue fair pay deal for the NHS.

"The shortage is leaving staff feeling overworked and undervalued and putting the delivery of consistently good standards of patient care at risk."

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is carrying out a range of recruitment strategies to address the problem.

It is strengthening its relationships with local universities, planning overseas recruitment initiatives and improving training opportunities.

The Trust also recently launched the Work for us Wednesday campaign on social media, which reaches over 25,000 people every week.

Temporary workers and agency staff are also employed to help deal with the shortages.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "Staffing is a priority, that's why we have invested in the frontline and there are over 33,800 more professionally qualified clinical staff including almost 11,700 more doctors, and almost 13,100 more nurses on our wards since May 2010.”

All current opportunities at the Trust's hospitals are available on www.jobs.nhs.uk by searching for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.