UNISON responds to First Minister's statement on crisis in NHS Scotland
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Scotland's hospitals are "almost completely full", with bed occupancy exceeding 95 per cent last week, the First Minister has said in a special briefing which was held at the Scottish government's St Andrew's House this morning.
The briefing followed the First Minister chairing a meeting of the Scottish Government resilience committee (SGoRR) to discuss the response to ongoing winter pressures on the health and social care system on Friday.
Nicola Sturgeon said services were facing "truly unprecedented" pressures and that demand for hospital beds had been driven up by extraordinary levels of winter flu, rising rates of Covid infections and cases of Strep A.
Work also needed to be done to prevent unnecessary hospital attendances and to speed up discharges and to this end staffing of the NHS 24 helpline is to be increased, while health boards will be backed in maximising capacity by opening GP practices on Saturdays.
Figures show that more than 400 people with Covid-19 were admitted to hospital last week, on top of more than 1000 patients with winter flu for the second week running while the ambulance services responded to more than 16,000 emergency incidents in the past week.
The full transcript of her statement can be read here.
Chair of UNISON Scotland's health committee, Wilma Brown, reacted to the First Minister’s statement on the NHS in Scotland.
Wilma who also works as a nurse in the NHS, said: “UNISON has been warning of a crisis in the NHS long before Covid hit.
"Staff like myself, who work in the service, have highlighted the lack of meaningful workforce planning, year after year for the past decade which has led to a critical situation around vacancy levels and this, coupled with a severe lack of investment in social care, meant we all saw this crisis coming.
"UNISON has been saying for months that we are heading for a serious winter crisis.
"We have had alerts and reports which were indicating the situation we now find ourselves in.
"When we can’t cope in the summer, it tells you there is absolutely no give in the system.
"NHS staff are being pushed to the absolute limit.
"The First Minister’s recognition that staff are working hard and delivering truly excellent care has never been in doubt - but it is simply not enough.
"Our patients and staff are not safe in these conditions and they deserve so much better.
"The Scottish government should never put the country in this situation again, we need a meaningful long-term plan to bring the NHS back to full health which means recruiting more staff now, a significant reform to social care and investment in all health and care staff in Scotland."
