More than one in 20 positions were not filled at East Lancashire Hospitals Trust at the end of 2022, new figures show, while one in nine were vacant at Lancashire and South Cumbria Trust in the same time.

New figures from NHS England show 11.9 per cent of full-time equivalent positions at Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust were unfilled as of the end of December.

At the end of March 22, this figure was 11.7 per cent.

Meanwhile, 7.4 per cent of full-time equivalent positions at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust were unfilled as of the end of December.

READ MORE: East Lancashire Hospital Trust suffering 'high demand'

At the end of March 2022, this figure was 5.3 per cent.

Vacancies do not mean these jobs are not being carried out, as a shortfall in permanent employees may be covered by temporary or agency staff.

Of 212 trusts across England, 79 (37 per cent) had a vacancy rate of 10 per cent or more.

The NHS cautions discrepancies between trusts may be due to “transient labour populations” and operating models “designed to utilise different proportions of temporary workforce.”

Robert Cragg, chief people officer for Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust said: “While vacancies across mental health and community trusts nationally are a challenge, we are proud to say that we remain compliant with safer staffing levels in nursing posts and are assured of our ability to provide safe, effective and quality care.

“We have a strong focus on recruitment and retention of a talented workforce and our recent recruitment campaigns have resulted in increased offers of employment across a range of positions, with our retention rates reaching a two-year high.

“In addition, the Trust has developed a ‘grow our own’ nursing career pathway with opportunities for staff to develop from entry level nursing positions through to advance practice and we continue to recruit internationally.”

Executive director of people and culture at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, Kate Quinn, added: “There is a real sense of purpose about working in healthcare and at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust our teams are making a difference to people’s lives every single day.

"As with so many NHS organisations, we have a large number of vacancies – you’d expect that with any organisation of our size but we have a lower than average turnover rate compared to other NHS organisations and we are proud of the family-feel culture we have developed.

Meanwhile, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, Pat Cullen, said a lack of staff was impacting the quakity of care they can provide to patients.

She said: "Until we begin to turn the tide and fill these vacant posts, the NHS will not be able to tackle the backlog in care.

"This is why we are urging the Health Secretary to get back round the table and negotiate with us."

READ MORE: Lancashire health trust Triangle of Care accredited by Carers Trust

The vacancy rate for nurses has risen from 9.9 per cent in March 2020, before the pandemic, to 10.8 per cent at the end of last year.

Caroline Waterfield, director of development and employment at NHS Employers – part of the NHS confederation – said: "We know that the NHS is not immune to the challenges facing the rest of the UK economy in terms of a very competitive labour market

"Not only has it been very tricky to attract the right number of suitable candidates into some roles, we’ve also seen higher levels of turnover as colleagues move jobs within the health and social care sector and into other industries.

"In some clinical roles, such as nursing and doctors, recruiting from overseas has supplemented UK training and enabled vacancies to be filled."

Ms Waterfield urged Government to implement the "overdue" long-term workforce plan for the NHS immediately.