Patients face 250-mile trip to England for heart ops
Crisis-hit Scots NHS is forced to strike deal south of Border
SCOTTISH patients will travel hundreds of miles to England for heart surgery because of staffing problems in the NHS.
Health service bosses struck a deal with an English hospital because of a ‘backlog’ of patients waiting for vital operations.
The crisis has emerged in NHS Grampian, which plans to send patients to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, 250 miles from Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where heart surgery is usually carried out.
Some heart treatments can require hospital stays of several days, putting further strain on patients and their families when they will already be under stress.
The Scottish Government confirmed the deal after a patient complained to his MSP, having waited three months for cardiac surgery.
In a letter to Tory Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston, Health Secretary Shona Robison admitted there was ‘a backlog of cardiac patients due to staffing difficulties’ and ‘challenges around theatre capacity’.
She said similar to other boards, NHS Grampian also had an arrangement with the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank.
But the move to send patients to England for routine procedures is a clear sign of the growing strain on Scotland’s NHS.
Nursing and consultancy vacancy levels are at a record high across the country, while hospitals struggle to hit waiting-time targets.
Mr Halcro Johnston said: ‘Travelling to Newcastle for any patient in the Grampian area isn’t convenient, but even less so for those with heart problems.
‘The SNP has been in charge of health for more than a decade now, and only has itself to blame for this unacceptable situation.’
Rab Wilson, spokesman for campaign group Action for a Safe and Accountable People’s NHS, said: ‘Sending people hundreds of miles away illustrates the huge gaps we have in doctors and nurses who are constantly crying out that they are understaffed.’
Miss Robison added: ‘NHS Grampian is committed to making every effort to ensure their patients have access to high quality healthcare, and their agreement with the Freeman Hospital is an example of these efforts.
‘However, this service in Newcastle is their third back-up option behind Lothian and Glasgow, and it has not yet been used.
‘We are delivering increases to NHS Grampian’s budget of more than £315million. That’s helped deliver an increase of more than 800 staff in NHS Grampian, including the number of consultants increasing by almost 38 per cent.’
This year, NHS Grampian said it could not guarantee patients surgery within 12 weeks of diagnosis, unless it was an urgent case. A spokesman said: ‘Our agreement with Newcastle is a back-up option which has not been utilised so far.’