PATIENTS have been reassured after a report found hospitals are “struggling” to ensure they have a consultant children’s doctor available during their busiest hours.

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has made a plea to ministers to help expand the paediatric consultant workforce to ensure there is a senior doctor in hospital during peak hours - usually 8am to 10pm.

But East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust bosses say they have a consultant on site at Royal Blackburn Hospital and based in the children’s observation and assessment unit until 10pm Monday to Friday, with a further consultant available ‘on call’ 24 hours.

The RCPCH report found that on weekdays a paediatric consultant is present in the hospital during times of “self-identified peak activity” in only 38.8 per cent of units.

At weekends, this falls to 28.6 per cent of units, according to a poll of 113 paediatric clinical directors from hospitals across the UK.

The RCPCH has estimated that, across the UK, the consultant paediatric workforce is 752 full-time equivalent posts short.

Dr Chris Gardner, consultant paediatrician and clinical director for paediatrics at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “It is important for our patients and the public to know that children’s in-patient services at the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital provide a consultant paediatrician either on site or on call - 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“At weekends we have two paediatric consultants available to review patients on the children’s ward at peak times when required.

“This is in addition to consultants in emergency medicine and anaesthetic medicine to help stabilise critically ill children.

“We also have specialist paediatric and junior doctors on duty in the children’s ward every day.

“Every day the children’s ward has a ‘ward round’ led by a paediatric consultant."

“It is down to the sheer dedication of our doctors that children are being treated as safely as they possibly can on paediatric wards in the UK but the risk of ‘burn out’ is all too real,” said the RCPCH’s vice president for health policy, Dr Carol Ewing.

“In order to meet three key standards - children seen by a consultant within 14 hours of admission, two consultant led handovers and presence at peak times - paediatric departments need increased consultant presence from around 8am to 10pm.

“The growth in the paediatric workforce is crucial if this is to happen.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “We currently have record numbers of consultants working in our NHS - including 923 more paediatric consultants since May 2010.“We know there is more to do to boost numbers so we are training up to 1,500 more doctors every year from 2018 and helping existing staff to improve work/life balance - underlining our commitment to ensuring the NHS has the staff it needs, both now and in the future.”