St John’s Hospital is facing another staffing shortage just weeks after steps were taken to reinstate a full service at the beleaguered children’s ward.
A shortage of nurses has forced NHS Lothian’s Out-of-Hours GP service to cut opening times. The Lothian Unscheduled Care Service (LUCS announced it is struggling to staff the base at St John’s Hospital.
LUCS provides out-of-hours primary care appointments at the hospital for people who have contacted NHS 24.
The service has revealed the unit will not be staffed for nine out of 23 week-day overnights (midnight to 8am) next month.
The problems have been blamed on difficulties recruiting and replacing nurses to staff the unit, which runs from 6pm to 8am during the week.
And it comes after opening hours at the children’s ward were reduced for 18 months due to staffing shortages, although it is close to a fully reinstated service after it re-opened four nights a week last month.
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Labour MSP Neil Findlay said the cuts at LUCS would affect patient health.
He continued: “It is of increasing concern that yet again we are hearing about problems in staffing the NHS in our area.
“After years of uncertainty over the paediatric service at St John’s this is yet another concern for people in the area.
“The Scottish Government have to get serious about the shortage of staff in our vital services as it is the health and wellbeing of people across West Lothian that will suffer.”
NHS Lothian said they expect around seven patients per night will be affected by the reduction in the service.
Dr Sian Tucker, clinical director of LUCS, NHS Lothian, said: “To ensure patient and staff safety the GP out-of-hours service (LUCS) will not see patients in the St John’s Hospital base between midnight and 8am for nine weekday evenings in May.
“A GP will still be present in West Lothian to visit any housebound patients who need care overnight.
“As LUCS is an appointment-only service patients are not being asked to do anything differently. If they require healthcare or advice, they should still call NHS 24 on 111.
“If patients are able to attend a face-to-face appointment they will be asked to go to the LUCS base at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh instead of going to the LUCS base at St John’s Hospital. If they are unable to travel independently a taxi can be provided.
“The decision to reduce the service in a planned and coordinated way has been taken because of staffing issues, which means there are not enough nurses to fill the nursing rota. Despite training additional nurses, the service has been unable to keep up with the loss to daytime general practice.
“We have put in place a number of short and long-term actions to help tackle the issues, including increased recruitment and training, and we are working with colleagues in daytime services.
“However, the situation remains precarious and we anticipate that it will be exacerbated by annual leave over the summer months. Therefore it may be September before we see any encouraging change.”
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Conservative MSP Miles Briggs said the problem was caused by “inadequate workforce planning by SNP ministers over the last 11 years”.
He continued: “There simply aren’t enough nurses to properly cover the out-of-hours services and using GPs to cover these shifts will cost taxpayers over £30,000 this year alone.
“It is people in West Lothian who will suffer when out-of-hours services are closed, when they have to travel to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh to be seen.”
