Hospital story upset staff and patients

I am extremely disappointed and dismayed by your front page article in the paper (‘Whistleblower says hospital staff stressed and overworked’, The Oban Times, March 29) relating to Lorn and Islands hospital.

Your decision to print an anonymous letter detailing a number of inaccurate allegations not only damages the morale of the hard-working staff within the hospital but also damages the reputation of a local paper which is meant to accurately reflect the views of the people who live and work in Oban.

We are also frustrated that you chose to only partially publish our statement and omitted to include the first sentence which highlights the fact that our staff deliver a high standard of care for patients.

Our staff in Lorn and Islands Hospital not only work in the Oban area but they live there as well and they are dedicated, hard-working and always have patients as their first priority. Many of them have expressed to me their anger and dismay about this article.

An added consequence of articles such as this is that it also damages the image of the area as a desirable place for health and social care professionals to work and makes it much more difficult for us to recruit staff.

We would therefore ask that you think twice in future before printing articles based on unsubstantiated allegations and we would ask you to also remember that by printing scaremongering stories such as this you needlessly upset not only our staff but the many patients and their families who use our hospital on a regular basis. Caroline Henderson, Local area manager, Lorn and Islands Hospital.