CONTROVERSIAL plans to change the shift patterns of a NHS trust's nursing staff have been dropped.

The proposals, at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, would have seen many nursing and midwifery staff working the equivalent of an extra shift every four weeks.

In January, the shift changes were due to be imposed but were delayed to allow staff to voice their concerns during a two-week staff consultation.

And today (Wednesday, May 4), it was revealed that South Tees chief executive Siobhan McArdle had sent a special briefing to all staff on Friday, saying the changes are being postponed again.

She wrote: “It has become very apparent that not only are we highly unlikely to reach agreement on the planned introduction of the shift pattern changes through our current consultation process, but that we are also stuck in an unconstructive conversation that is not adding value to our organisation in terms of patient care, experience and outcome.

"Director of Nursing Gill Hunt and I have now taken the decision to close consultation on the proposed changes to nursing shift patterns and postpone the introduction of the changes in June.”

Health unions undertook their own consultations with members.

Welcoming the trust's decision, Roaqah Shaher, lead Royal College of Nursing representative, said: “This is a fantastic result, everyone is so relieved, the atmosphere at work this weekend was really uplifted and there were smiles everywhere.

"I want to thank all the staff members for hanging in there and supporting the RCN and the other unions throughout the whole of this consultation period.

"This was only possible because we all stood together to oppose something that was recognised by the management as being ultimately unfair on hard-working staff.”

Gill Hunt, director of nursing for the trust, said: “We remain committed to the principles which underpin the proposed shift pattern changes namely to ensure patient safety, staff health and wellbeing and to ensure our rosters are efficient and fair.

“We are concerned about claims made regarding patient safety as one of our main drivers is to have more nurses on the wards and ensure staff have adequate rest breaks during their working day.

“We will be launching a programme of work with frontline staff to transform the services we deliver in the best interests of patients, staff and the organisation as a whole.”