Internal documents leaked to the Sunday Mail suggest a financial black hole at one health board has left patient safety compromised.
Nurses left ‘constantly short’ on wards at one Scottish hospital(Image: Getty Images)
NHS whistleblowers have warned of dangerous staffing levels on wards amid fears of a “winter ticking timebomb” at hospitals across the country. Internal documents leaked to the Sunday Mail reveal a financial black hole at one health board has left patient safety compromised in surgery departments.
It comes after leading emergency Dr Fiona Hunter, vice chair of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland, told how she is fearful of the impact of winter on already stretched services. She said A&E departments were providing unsafe levels of care, with some patients spending 72 hours on trolleys in hospital corridors.
Now a source at the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) in Paisley – one of the biggest in the country – has described nurses being “run ragged”, with wards “constantly short” as pressure mounts by the week. Insiders have now warned the hospital had lost a full ward’s worth of beds since last year – raising fears of corridor care – while staff face cuts in every department including catering and portering.
Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley(Image: Andrew Neil)
Meanwhile, bank shifts where NHS or agency workers help provide cover for short-handed wards are being capped and often not released where needed. The whistleblower said: “The RAH has absolutely dangerous staffing levels in nursing, whether that’s staff nurses or healthcare support workers (HSCWs). We are also losing beds in cardiology for a day clinic while the west of Scotland has one of the highest rates for heart disease.
“The majority of the wards are running if they’re lucky with two HCSWs and between two to three nurses. They need to recruit more staff and bank nurses are not being deployed because of financial pressures. This needs addressing as soon as possible as I’m sure it’s the same across the health board but no one seems to be doing anything about it.”
Another source told the Sunday Mail: “Ward managers have got tight budgets which they can’t go over and if they have to work short, that’s what they’ll do. You can’t compromise patient care or the staff and they have a duty of care towards the staff. They’re taking the rip, it’s a scandal.”
Labour’s Jackie Baillie said: “These reports from the Royal Alexandra Hospital are deeply concerning.
“October has just finished and as we head into the winter months, staff are reportedly being pushed to breaking point, with serious questions about whether wards have enough nurses to keep patients safe as winter pressures mount. Patients and staff must not pay the price for budget cuts.
“NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde must urgently explain what is happening to staffing and bed capacity and ensure services have the resources they need to cope this winter.”
We have seen minutes from an August meeting of the Clyde sector of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in which health board chiefs warn of an expected £10million overspend in the division by year’s end.
A report on finance said the division was “approximately £3.5million overspent at the end of July against a £7.9million savings target and a year-to-date shortfall of £2.5million” with “weekly nursing controls” in an effort to address high staffing costs.
Labour’s Jackie Baillie(Image: Getty Images)
Others in the meeting “raised concerns that staffing levels at receiving and surgical wards were reportedly being reduced at night and weekends because of savings” despite “consistently high patient numbers”.
It comes amid widespread fears across the NHS of a horrendous winter amid cuts, increased demand and overworked staff with high rates of sickness. In emergency wards, latest data shows only about six in 10 patients being treated within four hours, with thousands of Scots every week facing punishing waits of eight hours or longer.
Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs said: “These findings are deeply concerning and show staff are working against a winter ticking timebomb at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.
“Lives are being put at risk, staff are under intolerable strain, and patients are bearing the brunt of the crisis that is continuing to unfold at the hospital.”
Lib Dem MSP Adam Harley said: “Across the country, NHS staff worry that they are dangerously understaffed. Scottish Liberal Democrats previously revealed that they were formally recording staff shortages almost 100 times a week. Under the SNP this situation has only got worse.
“The Health Secretary needs to give our hard-working NHS staff the beds, safe staffing and resources they desperately need.” NHS GCC last month warned the public to stay away from A&E for minor injuries or illnesses that are not “life or limb-threatening” in a desperate effort to ease demand.
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A health board spokesman said: “The safety and care of our patients, alongside the well-being of our staff, is our absolute priority at the Royal Alexandra Hospital and throughout NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
“Our dedicated staff work tirelessly to ensure the highest standards in our hospitals and we would like to thank them for their continued efforts in delivering compassionate care to our patients.
“As is the case across the country, many services are facing considerable pressures, but our teams work hard to ensure appropriate staffing on all our wards. Each day, comprehensive site safety huddles are undertaken to assess staffing levels, patient acuity, bed capacity and operational pressures in real time to ensure services remain safe and responsive to patient need.
“Issues identified through these processes, or through site escalation processes, are actively managed.”
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