ROYAL Bournemouth Hospital has launched a new campaign video to recruit staff in its A&E amid a national shortage of emergency doctors.

The video, which begins and ends with consultant in emergency medicine Aidan Siggers on his paddleboard in Sandbanks, aims to attract healthcare staff including consultants, doctors and nurses to the county.

He said: “Here in Bournemouth there are some big changes being proposed about how we deliver healthcare that could see this hospital become the major emergency centre for east Dorset so now is a really good time to join us.

“We’re looking for speciality doctors and junior doctors in emergency medicine. We look forward to welcoming you.”

As previously reported NHS Dorset CCG will decide on a major shake-up of health services in the county next month. Its preferred proposals include separating planned and emergency care to make RBH the major emergency centre for east Dorset with Poole Hospital for planned care and no A&E.

The video features staff from the hospital as they explain why Bournemouth is the ideal place to live and work.

Last week CCG chairman Tim Goodson told how the county was ‘stretching workforce resources too thinly’ to be able to keep two A&Es open in East Dorset into the future. He added both RBH and Poole are not meeting ‘some of the best practice guidance on the number of consultants on site at any one point and that providing one service ‘would improve outcomes.’

It comes as there is a national shortage of consultants - a situation worsened with retirements and lower numbers coming through training.

A spokesman for RBH said last year there were 93,761 attendances in its emergency department, up seven per cent on the previous year.

The department currently has eight consultants, 12 middle grade and 16 junior doctor posts on the rota.

Richard Renaut, Chief Operating Officer at the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals, said: “We have a dedicated team of Emergency Department staff, made up of nurses, healthcare assistants, junior and middle grade doctors, consultants and support stafflike receptionists and porters.

"We are always staffed to provide safe patient care but, like most trusts, would like more staff including consultants in the team. The national shortage of emergency doctors means we struggle to recruit to this role, hence our innovative approach to recruitment including the ED video.”

Karen Allman, director of HR at the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust added: “The coming months and years are going to be an important time for health services in Dorset and we’re looking for talented healthcare professionals from both the local area and further afield to join team RBCH at this exciting time.

"We have a fantastic culture here and people tend to stay with us because of it. We’re also located in a stunning area, which is a pull for people to relocate to join us. If you’d like to work at our trust but can’t see a relevant vacancy, pop an email to jobs@rbch.nhs.uk and we’ll see what we can do.”