Conscious of strife in hospital department (5)
I believe the answer is:
aware
'conscious of' is the definition.
(being conscious means being aware of something)
'strife in hospital department' is the wordplay.
'strife' becomes 'war' (I've seen this before).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'hospital department' becomes 'ae' (A and E, Accident and Emergency department).
'war' placed within 'ae' is 'AWARE'.
(Other definitions for aware that I've seen before include "Having knowledge of, informed" , "Knowing (of something)" , "Having knowledge or realisation" , "Cognizant" , "Acquainted with or mindful of" .)