North-east community hospitals may hold the key to easeing NHS Grampian backlog
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Scotland’s health secretary has been told north-east community hospitals may hold the key to helping ease NHS Grampian’s hospital backlog.
But this can only come by “ramping up” nurse recruitment to the likes of Aboyne, Glen O’Dee and Insch hospitals, Humza Yousaf heard at a crunch meeting with local Scottish Conservatives.
The Minister agreed to discuss mounting concerns with Aberdeenshire West MSP Alexander Burnett and Andrew Bowie, the West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MP.
It follows months of media and constituent reports about waiting times across all NHS and GP services, as well as a plea by NHS bosses for staff to work over their festive time off.
Andrew Bowie said:“We asked Humza for a direct discussion about the serious and mounting problems faced in NHS Grampian.
“And I thank the Minister for giving his time to discuss possible solutions.
“So much hard work goes into patient care across the north-east, but we all agreed that issues persist despite that fantastic effort.
“And when things go wrong, it’s Alexander and me who hear from the staff, the patients, and sometimes, bereaved families.
“Asking Holyrood for explanations and solutions can then take six months and the responses often don’t reflect our local picture.
“Frontline staff in Aberdeenshire and their patients don’t have the luxury of time.”
Alexander Burnett said:“Increasing bed capacity at community hospitals like Aboyne is a good first step, and we agreed with Humza that this will help reduce bottlenecks at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
“I would hope and expect to see a reopened Insch War Memorial Hospital as part of the plan.
“But capacity is just a number without having staff.
“Humza often says there are enough nurses and specialists to see patients.
“But the view from Edinburgh doesn’t match local experience, where we need to see nurse numbers ramping up.”
