HEALTH officials planning for increased emergency admissions over the winter period fear a crisis may ensue as a result of staffing problems.

Overtime and agency staff figures showed that there were enough nurses working in the general medical and general surgical wards at Wycombe Hospital but in reality there is currently a 23 per cent vacancy rate, meaning around 30 more nurses are needed to give the eight wards the 90 members of staff they need.

Although there is nursing cover through agency staff and full-time staff working overtime, it is putting extra pressure on the service which has less staff to rely on.

The situation is similar in the children's ward which has 10 vacancies, meaning 21 per cent of staff are missing, and obstetrics and gynaecology which has 21 vacancies out of a capacity of 94 nurses, meaning 22 per cent of staff positions are not filled.

At a South Bucks NHS Trust board meeting on Wednesday one of the main reasons given for recruitment problems was the high cost of housing in the area. The trust is looking into affordable housing schemes with the district councils.

They are also looking into a scheme to provide temporary subsidised housing for new staff who have just moved to the area and have set-up an internet site to help advertise vacancies to a wider audience, reduce turnover and speed up recruitment.

David Griffiths, director of hospital services, said: 'The staff are hard pressed, the hospital is very, very busy and on top of that they are working very, very hard with staffing vacancies.

'There are problems surrounding nurse recruitment at the moment and is becoming more serious. I really do not feel that the way things are we are going to get through without some expense.'