NHS office staff asked to clean hospitals
NHS office workers are being asked to carry out cleaning duties and make beds in Scottish hospitals as soaring levels of winter admissions place ‘exceptional’ demands on the health service.
Administrative staff at NHS Lanarkshire have been invited to volunteer to work within hospitals and GP surgeries during the current ‘unparalleled’ surge in demand for care.
The step was taken as soaring levels of winter illnesses such as flu left clinical staff at the health board’s hospitals at Hairmyres, Wishaw and Monklands struggling to cope with the levels of new admissions.
The office workers have been ‘redeployed’ to carry out chores such as making beds and cleaning toilets over the next five days.
The health board has already been forced to call in off duty frontline staff and has postponed routine operations for the rest of this week.
NHS Lanarkshire’s chief executive Calum Campbell defended the move, saying it ‘demonstrates the strong team spirit that exists within the NHS’.
NHS office staff are being sent to make beds and clean hospitals in a drastic move to cope with winter demand.
Around 60 admin workers are being redeployed under ‘exceptional measures’ being taken to ensure patient safety.
The move was announced yesterday amid soaring demand for hospital care.
Backroom staff at NHS Lanarkshire’s headquarters have been asked to volunteer to work in the area’s hospitals and GP surgeries, carrying out domestic and admin duties in a move described by NHS bosses as ‘all hands to the pumps’.
But last night critics said it was fresh evidence of a ‘winter meltdown’.
NHS Lanarkshire said its three hospital sites at Hairmyres, Wishaw and Monklands had been ‘inundated’ over the festive period, mainly with patients suffering winter illnesses
‘They are lions led by SNP donkeys’
such as flu. It has already called in off-duty frontline staff and postponed routine operations for the rest of the week.
Office workers have been volunteering to help out colleagues in hospitals and GP practices by taking on administrative roles and chores such as cleaning toilets over the next five days.
Although they will not be expected to undergo specific training, they will be carrying out the tasks under supervision, the board said.
NHS Lanarkshire’s chief executive Calum Campbell said: ‘This is an unparalleled situation in Lanarkshire and exceptional circumstances need exceptional measures to enable us to deliver our number one healthcare priority – patient safety.
‘We asked our office-based staff to consider volunteering to suspend their day job to support their clinical colleagues, bearing in mind our key purpose and commitment as an organisation to care for people who need our help.
‘Not surprisingly, we’ve had a tremendous response which demonstrates the strong team spirit that exists within the NHS.’
But Scottish Labour’s health spokesman Anas Sarwar blamed the SNP for letting NHS staff down.
He said: ‘Our wonderful NHS staff set an example for us all in their unrelenting spirit and determination to do all that is necessary to keep us in good health. The NHS shouldn’t have to rely on office staff volunteering to help on the frontline in the 21st century.’
Other hospitals also admitted they were under major pressure yesterday.
Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary moved onto Red Status due to a high number of GP referrals and patients being treated in the emergency department.
NHS Grampian said it had also postponed several routine procedures in the past week. NHS Borders said non-urgent, non-cancer and non-trauma surgeries are being ‘reviewed on a case by case basis’. Operations were also postponed in NHS Grampian, NHS Fife and NHS Ayrshire and Arran.
Scottish Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘This must be the last winter where we see doctors, nurses and patients suffering due to a government that has taken its eye off the ball. Everyone who works in our NHS goes the extra mile every day – they are truly lions led by SNP donkeys.’
Last night, Health Secretary Shona Robison responded: ‘Our NHS and community health service do a fantastic job all year round but there is no doubt that winter can bring additional demands.
‘The reality is that our health service is currently experiencing a much greater level and complexity of demand than usual.
‘The number of people attending emergency departments is at its highest level since 2015, the ambulance service has recorded a major surge in calls and we are experiencing the highest rate of influenza-like illness at this time of the year since 2010-11.’