HOSPITALS ON LIFE SUPPORT
Shortage of doctors sees wait time for surgery spiral out of control
Ayrshire’s health service has been placed on life support – as a waiting list crisis threatens to spiral out of control.
A dire shortage of doctors has pushed bosses to the brink as they plunge almost £ 500,000 a MONTH on part- time medics.
The search for new consultants has now become “a major issue,” admitted NHS Ayrshire and Arran this week.
We can reveal they haemorrhaged an astonishing £ 2.75 million on locum support in the first half of this year in a vain attempt to plug the gaps. Now the staff emergency is threatening to engulf the health board, with a string of medical departments under- staffed and behind schedule. At the end of June, almost 3500 outpatients had seen their 12- week treatment time guarantee ( TTG) breached. It
marks an increase of more than 50 per cent in the space of just three chaotic months.
The strict timetable for receiving surgery after diagnosis is a legal requirement set out by the Scottish Government.
And since October last year, the number of inpatient and day cases breaching targets has also risen by 5500 per cent.
NHS chiefs are now under severe pressure to alleviate the strain on their stretched workforce.
The race to put new consultants on the frontline has been brought into focus by the eye- watering wage bill for temporary staff.
Bosses admitted this week they had plumped for “expensive short term arrangements” to try and stem the tide.
And they confessed that a number of medical departments are now running with a “high number of breaches”.
The worst offenders include ENT, Opthalmology, Oral and Maxillofacial, Cardiology, Gastroenterology and Rheumatology.
NHS chief executive John Burns insisted on Tuesday that his organisation is fighting to recover the situation.
He said: “We recognise that some of our patients are waiting in excess of 12 weeks for planned surgery.
“Our clinical teams are working tirelessly to offer patients planned surgery as quickly as possible and most patients are seen within 14 weeks.
“We are committed to delivering improved access for our patients.
“We have a number of consultant vacancies and while we take forward recruitment, we are making locum appointments to ensure we maintain safe services to our patients.”
Liz Moore, director for acute services, added: “When we are not able to meet the 12- week TTG, we contact with our patients to offer an explanation and an apology.
“We also make every effort to offer these patients a suitable future time for their surgery.
“We closely monitor waiting times so that we can put in place remedial actions for any specialty which is experiencing pressures or higher demand.”
But Ayr MSP John Scott is calling for the health board to up its game and make an immediate effort to recruit more staff.
He said: “I’m very concerned that government- set waiting times of 12 weeks were breached in so many cases over last winter, and this appears to be due to a lack of staff and a lack of available beds, with surgical wards being overwhelmed with medical cases.
“Spending £ 2.75m on providing the services of locums highlights the problems caused by increased demand and under- recruitment.
“And with next winter’s problems approaching, I would urge the management of NHS Ayrshire and Arran to redouble their efforts to recruit more staff.”