Safety fears as children’s ward closes

Young face 20-mile journey

STAFF shortages have caused a children’s ward to close, in the latest scandal to hit Scotland’s NHS.

Families face a 20-mile journey for vital care after health chiefs announced they would stop overnight admissions because there are not enough doctors and nurses to cover shifts. The temporary move was announced yesterday by NHS Lothian, which is downgrading the children’s ward at St John’s Hospital, in Livingston, West Lothian.

Around 20 patients a week will be transferred to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh over the summer, starting on Friday, July 7.

Hospital bosses said the decision had been ‘difficult and deeply frus trating’ but they had failed to recruit enough staff to guarantee a ‘safe service’ at the hospital out of hours.

Last night, patient groups warned the long journeys, and lack of local expertise, could put children’s safety at risk and lead to a ‘tragedy’.

It is the third time the unit has had to shut its doors to inpatients because of staff shortages over the summer months.

Ellen Glass, of the campaign group Action to Save St John’s, said: ‘This is terrible. It puts patient safety at risk and raises the possibility of a tragedy occurring.

‘The Sick Kids in Edinburgh is a long way for parents to travel, and when you have a child who is ill, you want them to be seen.’

Children will continue to have urgent assessment and routine care on the ward between 8am and 8pm. John’s accident and emergency department will also continue to assess and treat children at all times, but any who need to be admitted will be transferred to Edinburgh.

The future of the ward has been uncertain for years. NHS Lothian needs to hire an extra eight paediatric consultants, and so far only five have been found.

Jacquie Campbell, the health board’s chief officer of acute services, said: ‘Despite our best efforts, we have been unable to reliably secure the levels of staffing required overnight and at weekends to guarantee a safe service.’

She said the decision would avoid the inconvenience of ‘an unplanned closure’.

In 2007, Nicola Sturgeon, then Health Secretary, gave a ‘personal commitment’ to St John’s future.

Yesterday, Scottish Labour MSP Neil Findlay vowed to fight the ‘downgrading of services’.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Donald Cameron said the decision damaged the hospital’s reputation and prompted fears of more cuts to come.

A spokesman for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said: ‘We acknowledge and support the decision in the short term as being in the best interests of children and families to ensure they are cared for in a safely-staffed environment.’

Health Secretary Shona Robison said: ‘I understand that this temporary measure is being taken in the best interest of children and their families. I have written to the board today to emphasise the importance I attach to early reinstatement of this vital service.’

Maternity and neonatal services at St John’s are unaffected.

‘Possibility of a tragedy’