Recruitment issues hit Oban haematology clinic
Some haematology clinic patients in Oban will face longer journeys to get appointments from this August.
Letters have been sent out telling patients that the Glasgow doctors who ran the clinic for some years at Lorn and Islands Hospital have left now and there have been difficulties replacing them.
As a result, the way the service is run has been redesigned, the letter from NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde says.
What it means is that patients will be appointed to a specialised clinic in Glasgow, either at the Beatson Cancer Centre, the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital or new Victoria Hospital.
But the day case chemotherapy unit in Oban will continue scheduled treatments and wherever possible the hospital will continue taking blood tests and telephone appointments.
Due to nationwide workforce challenges and difficulties to recruit, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (GGC) notified Lorn & Islands Hospital that it was no longer able to maintain the current model of service delivery for haematology patients.
A spokesperson for NHS Highland said it had worked alongside Lorn and Islands Hospital to identify, agree, and implement an alternative model.
“In the interests of service continuity and patient care, we have employed an enhanced virtual model that utilises services such as Near Me, with the support of suitably trained nursing staff in the day case unit or skilled community nurses,” said the spokesperson.
NHS Highland says this will allows patients to get specialist face-to-face care and keep consultant continuity, while reducing unnecessary travel when it is clinically appropriate for the patient to be seen “virtually” at Oban hospital.
“However, there will be inevitable requirements for patients to travel to GGC to be seen face-to-face as their condition dictates,” the NHS spokesperson added.
Patients of Lorn and Islands Hospital should contact the Argyll & Bute Patient Travel department for any further information they need, if they need to claim travel expenses.
You can call the patient travel administrator on 01546 790080 or to find out more visit here: www.nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk/your-services/ other-services-and-accessibility/travel-and-transport/ financial-assistance-with-patient-travel.
“While we cannot comment on recruitment in NHS GCC, recruitment to health and social care services especially in the remote and rural areas has been and remains very challenging for us and this is a workforce issue that is reflected across the country,” added the NHS Highland spokesperson.