DESPERATE managers have resorted to asking non-medical staff to volunteer on the wards to help ease the pressure at a Hampshire hospital.

Bosses have asked workers from the human resources and IT departments to step into the breach and help on the frontline at Winchester’s Royal Hampshire County Hospital.

They have been asked to answer phones, collect results, assist staff dealing with patients and even help feed the sick who have been admitted to the Romsey Road site.

The emergency measures can be revealed after the Chronicle told how the hospital is facing an A&E crisis as it deals with a surge in patients.

As reported on Wednesday, an 82-year-old woman who had suffered a heart attack was left waiting on a trolley for 12 hours before she was examined as she lay at the side of a corridor.

A spokesman for UNISON said today the extreme measures highlighted the immense pressures NHS staff were facing.

He said: “Obviously there are health and safety implications, patient safety implications… in that staff not trained for these duties are being asked to assist, and from our members point of view there could be serious implications if anything were to go wrong.

“We are still trying to find out whether HR and IT departments are subject to Criminal Records Bureau checks, but obviously highlights the immense pressure and strain NHS workers are facing.”

Virtually all non-emergency operations have been postponed at the hospital, excluding patients battling cancer who require surgery.

Despite repeated requests, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has not said how many people have been affected or how many operations have not gone ahead.

Last night they also chose not to comment on the plans implemented around staff in the IT and HR departments being asked to volunteer on the wards.

In Southampton, hospital bosses are also struggling with the numbers of patients being admitted – with Southampton General Hospital now back on black alert as it battles the winter crisis.

They too have taken the decision to postpone some non-urgent surgery until the pressures ease.

A whistleblowing member of staff from Winchester last night said the crisis in A&E could have been averted if the hospital employed agency staff.

“It is still manic in A&E but not so manic. People are still bedding down in A&E all night. It is the standard situation now. If we had had agency staff it would have made a massive difference.”

Tony Jones, UNISON head of health, said: “Just ask yourself this one question: would you want the Human Resources officer or IT person working on the ward of your loved one?

 “The government seem to be content to shrug their shoulders and say to us about the big problems in the NHS "crisis - what crisis" but there is no hiding place as this latest example in Winchester shows.”

Steve Brine, Winchester and Chandler’s Ford MP, said last night: “We know A&E is under enormous pressure right now and, although the reasons are definitely not the same in every part of the country, Winchester is obviously not immune.

“I want to thank the RHCH staff who are doing an extraordinary job in difficult circumstances and know that they as much as anyone will regret the fact we are currently not meeting the four hour target regularly enough.”

County councillor Martin Tod, who sits on the county council health and adult social services select committee, said he would publicly raise the issues, including the recording of arrival times for the four-hour targets revealed by the Daily Echo. The next meeting of the committee is on January 27.

Cllr Tod, who runs a men’s health charity, said management were partly to blame for the crisis. “Winchester has a growing population and it’s ageing, so you would expect an increased demand on A&E. The duty of the NHS is to prepare and be ready for it. They should not be surprised more elderly, frail people need A&E. They were there last year. It’s like saying there are more schoolchildren but we forgot to build enough schools. It is not an excuse.”