Shortage of nurses closes dementia wards for a full year

Two wards treating dementia patients have been closed by NHS Grampian because of nurse shortages.

The units affected by the temporary closures are the Loirston ward and the Lochhead Day Hospital at Aberdeen’s Royal Cornhill Hospital.

The health board said the decision would “enhance patient safety” and was because of registered nurse posts being unfilled.

More than one-fifth of the posts are currently vacant. The units are expected to remain closed for a year.

Head of hosted mental health and learning disability services Jane Fletcher said: “We currently have 55.6 whole time equivalent registered (trained) nursing vacancies. This is 22 per cent of our registered nursing staff. It is simply unsafe for us to try and run our services, in their current format, with that number of unfilled posts.

“In recent months my team have been exploring different ways of working or using different mixes of staff groups to find a long-term solution. In the meantime, staff on the wards have gone above and beyond the call of duty in providing cover.

“However, working in this way is unsustainable. I also have a duty to look after the staff here so they are able to look after their patients.”

Dr Alastair Palin, a consultant psychiatrist at Royal Cornhill Hospital, said: “This has been a very difficult decision to take and I want to reassure the public we exhausted all other options before arriving here. The safety of our patients and staff must be paramount.”