Patient safety ‘not compromised’ by changes

NHS Tayside said patient safety will not be jeopardised, despite admitting a proposed overhaul of surgical services will mean it takes longer for some people to get hospital treatment.

The health board has launched a public consultation on proposed changes to the way it carries out planned and unplanned surgical procedures.

Currently, the health board carried out elective surgery and unscheduled surgery in Ninewells and Perth Royal Infirmary. Stracathro Hospital in Angus is only used for elective surgery.

NHS Tayside want to “rebalance” the service, which they say will improve outcomes for patients and save money.

Their preferred option is for all unscheduled operations to be carried out at Ninewells while increasing the number of elective operations carried out at PRI.

NHS Tayside’s website states that patients from Perth and Kinross who require unscheduled surgery may face a longer journey to hospital but once there treatment will be better.

The health board also notes that patients from Perth and Kinross who have to go into hospital for elective surgery will be able to be treated closer to home.

NHS Tayside consultant in vascular surgery Professor Peter Stonebridge said: “To make sure we can meet the needs of our patients across the whole of Tayside, now and in the future, we know we have to make changes to the way surgical services in Tayside are delivered.

“We would encourage members of the public to take part in the consultation and share their views on the proposed future model for surgical services in Tayside.”

The public consultation on the proposals for surgical services runs until October 3.

Meanwhile, latest figures show that more than 19 planned operations have been cancelled each day on average in Scotland since the start of the year because of capacity issues in the NHS.

In May 512 operations were scrapped due to a lack of space or staff, up from 490 the previous month but below this year’s high of 704 in January.

A total of 2,912 planned operations were cancelled between January and May due to capacity reasons, an average of 19.2 per day.

Scottish Labour’s health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: “These official figures once again reveal the extent of the SNP’s mismanagement of our NHS.

“It is clear that SNP health secretary Shona Robison is now totally out of her depth – she created this crisis and she can’t be the one to fix it.”

Ms Robison said: “In May there was an average of almost 1,000 operations per day carried out in Scotland’s hospitals – with the lowest ever rate of overall cancellations since these statistics were created and only 1.7% cancelled due to non-clinical or capacity reasons.

“In fact, since January almost 130,000 operations have been carried out. Boards work hard to keep cancellations to a minimum, and we’ll continue working with them so we see sustained improvement.

“Today’s statistics also show improving A&E performance, with Scotland’s A&Es being the best in the UK for over two years, plus encouraging improvement in the delayed discharge rate.

“I am confident that the recently announced extra £9 million to improve patient flow through hospitals this year will help us continue to reduce delays.”

Boards work hard to keep cancellations to a minimum, and we’ll continue working with them

NHS Tayside proposes carrying out all elective surgeries, some of which are carried out at Stracathro, at Ninewells and unscheduled surgery at Perth Royal Infirmary.