‘Utter chaos’ at Ninewells as thousands spent on new staffing crisis

NHS TAYSI DE is spend i ng thousa nds of pou nds a mont h d ra ft i ng i n porters at Ninewells Hospital amid a n ongoi ng sta ff i ng crisis.

The health board confirmed it had spent £37,000 in the first two months of the year to cover overtime and additional parttime hours, amid claims some porters were working 80-hour weeks.

One whistleblower said the hospital was in “complete and utter chaos” with workers from the dental hospital and the mail room being roped in to help front-of-house porters.

“The current situation is a crisis,” the worker said.

“At the moment there are some members of staff working 79 hours-plus a week.

“Staff at the hospital are working against NHS Tayside’s own working regulations to cover the fact they’re down to the bare bones.

“Staff from the dental hospital and mail room and office porters are being used to help front-of-house porters.

“It’s fair enough transferring staff but what knock-on effect is that having on the departments they are leaving to cover the front-of-house duties?

“We should really have 15 staff members covering the front door every day to convey patients, you’d be lucky if we’ve had eight staff recently.

“This has been going on for two months now.

“I’ve never seen the support services as bad as this, the place is in utter chaos at the moment.”

A spokeswoman for NHS Tayside said: “We are currently undergoing a review of portering services, which is being carried out jointly with trade unions.

“As is normal in any service review, interim measures have been put in place during this period, such as part-time additional hours and enhanced use of overtime, to support the continued delivery of services.

“The portering service also implemented additional shifts as part of our annual winter plan to support patient movement during this period of higher demand.

“Approximately £37,000 was spent between January and February to cover overtime costs and part-time additional hours.

“From time to time porters

It’s claimed some porters at Ninewells are working 80-hours a week.