10 beds go in Moray cottage hospitals
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Another 10 hospital beds are being cut in Moray as part of a 'Home First' approach to patient care during the pandemic.
A total of four beds have been removed from the 32-bed Seafield Hospital in Buckie.
Three have also gone from both the 22-bed Turner Memorial Hospital in Keith as well as the 20-bed Stephen Hospital in Dufftown.
This loss of 10 beds within Moray is in addition to the 32 beds which have already been taken out of the wards at Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin.
Health and Social Care Moray stated that the reduction in beds at the hospitals was temporary.
It added that the move had been necessary to comply with the national standards on physical distancing during the pandemic.
A spokesperson for the partnership said: "All hospitals are impacted in terms of the increased focus on bed spacing in line with latest infection prevention and control guidance as part of the pandemic response.
"To enable us to meet the system-wide challenge of managing capacity and demand we are introducing a Home First approach.
"This is based on the knowledge that people want to be at home and that this is where they will recover from illness better and faster.
"We are progressing a range of developments aimed at supporting people at home, reducing inappropriate hospital attendances and admissions and reducing the length of time people are delayed in hospital."
The minor injury units at all three of the cottage hospitals in Buckie, Keith and Dufftown have been closed since March.
In addition , the 15-bed Fleming Hospital in Aberlour was closed last November, four months before the epidemic struck.
Leanchoil Hospital in Forres nine beds at the time it was closed in 2018.
