Nurse consultants cover emergency medicine registrar shifts at NHS trust

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By Daniel Pye

Nurse consultants have been used to cover emergency medicine registrar shifts at an NHS trust, a freedom of information request has revealed.

In 2024-25 more than 60 shifts were covered by nurse consultants and 41 shifts in 2025-26 at Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (WUT).

The FOI also revealed that eight medical registrar shifts were covered by nurse consultants in 2024-25.

The Doctors Association UK (DAUK) told Doctors.net.uk that it was aware of nurse consultants being used at Arrowe Park Hospital (APH) and said advanced practitioners should “not be used as substitutes for doctors on medical rota”.

But WUT said its use of advanced practitioners was “consistent with wider NHS practice”.

The FOI request, published on online archive What Do They Know, confirms nurse consultants have been used to cover emergency medicine and medical registrar shifts.

The FOI further reveals that cardiology and respiratory nurse consultants have undertaken post-take ward rounds for patients in place of consultants, who are allocated by the Acute Physician of the Day.