Whistleblower says hospital staff stressed and overworked

AS LEAKS revealed secret plans for ‘terrifying’ cuts in Argyll and Bute’s health and social care to save £13 million this year, more revelations have emerged from a whistleblower at Oban’s Lorn and Islands Hospital, who claims wards are chronically short-staffed due to stress, with dead patients still being left overnight in the wards.

‘Departments are always short-staffed with people off sick,’ the hospital worker claims in a letter to The Oban Times and Oban Community Council. ‘The simple fact is staff are so stressed out, overworked and not appreciated by the management.

‘The domestic department is short of staff [and] the hospital is not getting cleaned properly, despite the great effort of the women that do the job. In all the years I have worked there, I have never seen morale so low. Staff cannot wait until they retire or find another job.’

The anonymous source added: ‘A few months ago, a patient who had died was left overnight in A&E because the managers had stopped porters being on call. This story was in the papers, with the management stating this would be resolved.

‘The situation is still the same, with patients who have passed away having to stay on the wards anything up to 12 hours, as the porters are not on call. So any patient passing away after 9pm, the wards have to wait until the morning before the deceased person is taken down to the mortuary.

‘There is never enough staff on duty at night to allow staff to go off ward and take the deceased person to the mortuary. The ward staff were never given or offered any training as to how to do this task and fill in any paperwork.’

The hospital worker said ward staff weren’t consulted when the decision was made, and so they did not have a chance to express their concerns.

‘Management know the problem is still on-going, but like most things that happen in the hospital hope that by sticking their heads in the sand the problem will go away.’

The whistleblower also claimed ‘bins of expired drugs [were] left for a few days at a time in an outside unlocked shed, [with] easy access to members of the public’.

Money was also being wasted, they said, adding: ‘Thousands of pounds are being paid out for the use of taxi services. Sometimes calling a taxi is necessary, but many other times a taxi is called because a department has forgotten to send something, or due to the lack of looking ahead.

‘The amount of equipment that gets dumped in skips every week with very little wrong or damaged is getting to the ridiculous stage.

‘The hospital ordered more than £10,000 of new bedside cabinets to replace ones on the wards, which most agree have very little wrong with them. They are now stored in an external store, as we hear they have been ordered wrong.

‘Unfortunately for the hospital and staff, the management structure will always cover for each other no matter how many mistakes they make, or how they just ignore problems.’

A spokesperson for Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) responded: ‘We are always looking at ways of improving our services and hospital managers welcome and encourage feedback from staff and the public on any issue. The vast majority of the claims are inaccurate.

‘The decision to stop on-call porters was made over a year ago and all the relevant staff were consulted. Our senior nurses are appropriately trained and if a transfer to the mortuary is required overnight, a decision will be made by the senior nurse on duty if it is appropriate to carry it out.

‘All expired drugs are stored in appropriate containers within a secure locked area. The use of taxi services is reviewed on a regular basis and no inappropriate use has been identified.

‘The old cabinets were identified as an infection control risk and new cabinets were ordered as replacements. These have now arrived and are being placed on the wards this week.

‘Lorn and Islands Hospital has very good cleaning standards and regular audits of these standards are carried out to ensure they meet the necessary requirements. Local management also monitor and address any issues with staff shortages.’

On claims equipment is dumped in skips, the HSCP said: ‘Only community equipment that is broken or damaged is disposed of.’