A freedom of information request has revealed that 36 consultants have left Noble’s in the past five years.

Just under a third of those who have left the hospital, did so in the year 2015 to 16 with 11 consultants leaving.

By contrast, 2013 to 2014 only saw three go from Noble’s and 2014 to 2015 saw four leave.

Following the 2015 to 2016 peak, 2016/17 saw a fall to seven leaving before last year 2017 to 2018 saw nine consultants leave, meaning 27 have left in the past three years.

The FoI response does state however that two of the nine who left last year were on short term contracts and expected to leave anyway.

As of April 24, 2018, there are seven locum consultants working at Nobles’s.

The distinction of locum is important, as at present there are over 66.14 whole time equivalent consultants and seven leavers in the financial year 2017/18.

The island’s leaving rate of consultants it 10.5%, the UK NHS average is 8.9%.

However, a Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman explained it is difficult to compare a change in the number of consultants at Noble’s with the UK due to the size and staff numbers of the hospital.

This is because, a small number of consultants staying or leaving results in a higher percentage change than it would in the UK.