Woman forced into 55-mile trip for treatment

HEALTH SERVICE: 86-year-old told she could not be seen in the Dundee hospital less than 10 minutes from her home in Fife

A Fife woman has warned lives could be at risk if confusion over out-of-hours care is not resolved.

The woman said her mother was forced to make a 55-mile round trip for treatment.

Despite living in Newport-on-tay, with a DD postcode and living less than 10 minutes from King’s Cross Hospital in Dundee, the 86-year-old was told to go to the out-of-hours clinic at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.

The woman woke early on Monday morning with stabbing pains, and after a phone consultation with NHS 24 she was told she would receive a call for an appointment with a doctor at King’s Cross.

However, she was later told there was no longer a reciprocal arrangement enabling Fife patients to be seen at NHS Tayside hospitals and that she would need to go to Kirkcaldy.

The situation came to light as medical staff get to grips with a new model of outof-hours GP services in Fife.

The Newport patient’s daughter, however, said: “It makes no sense to hospitalise poorly people so far from their homes and families, making them endure lengthy trips through very busy roads at peak times, and it will surely cost lives.

“The loss of historic understandings between north-east Fife health practices and Dundee hospitals must also, surely, affect efficiency.”

NHS Fife and Tayside said there has been no change to how patients in the Taybridgehead area are dealt with, although that has prompted questions about how this situation came about.

Under the new Fife model, people are urged to call NHS 24 before attending in a “talk before you walk” campaign to ensure they are seen by the right person in the right place.

Out-of-hours care is being delivered from St Andrews, Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline, with the St Andrews Outof-hours campaign group claiming the new set-up could put patients at risk.

Dr Chris Mckenna, NHS Fife medical director, said the health board was unable to comment on individual cases but said the urgent care service will advise patients to be seen in the “most appropriate setting according to their clinical needs”.

He added: “There has been no change to arrangements for NHS Fife patients living in the Taybridgehead area.

“We would encourage anyone who may have concerns about the care they have received to contact our patient relations team so that we can look into the matter further.”