Nurses and midwives at the Upper East Regional Hospital have raised alarm over inadequate nursing staff at the region’s referral facility.
In a statement, the health workers say although the facility has been significantly expanded and additional units established, no concrete steps have been taken to increase the nursing staff strength to correspond with the expansion.
The situation, they say, has led to understaffing at the facility, taking unbearable toll on the few nurses working there and ultimately, compromising the quality of healthcare delivery at the hospital.
“This shortage is resulting in reduced patient care quality, delays in treatment and procedures, compromised patient safety, and increased workload and burnout for existing staff.”
They expressed displeasure with the Regional Health Directorate over the inadequate staffing, accusing it of inaction.
According to them, although the matter has been brought to the attention of the Directorate and a committee constituted in October this year confirmed their claims, the Regional Directorate has failed to address it and continued to take administrative decisions that compound the situation at the secondary health facility.
They raised concerns about deployment imbalances in the region, stating that while the regional hospital is understaffed, other facilities that attend to less critical health conditions have been overstaffed.
“In the current posting of nurses and midwives, only 9 out of 220 enrolled and general nurses reported at the regional health directorate have been posted to the regional hospital.”
They added, “While there is currently a severe nursing staff shortage at the regional hospital, the directorate, per a letter dated 19th December, 2024, has posted seven nurses to the Bolgatanga Municipality to wait for the start of the new maternity and child health facility that is yet to be equipped at Sumbrungu”.
The health workers are, therefore, calling on government and the Ghana Health Service as well as stakeholders to intervene to resolve the crisis at the hospital.
“We are deeply concerned about the quality and safety of care rendered to patients. Safe, quality and standard care depend significantly on adequate and safe staffing,” the statement dated December 26, 2024.
“We are calling on the government, the minister of health, the director general of GHS, and opinion leaders to act now to ensure the facility has adequate nursing staff for improved healthcare outcomes.”
