The Vale of Leven hospital’s out-of-hours service is to be closed at weekends, NHS officials announced today.
The facility in Alexandria is the only one to be cut back in a move NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde says will ‘ensure a consistent and stable service can be delivered across the region’.
Although said to be temporary and caused by ‘pressures’, the closure will take effect immediately.
A health board statement said average attendance at the Vale hospital was ‘considered low’ – but the unit has been beset by unscheduled closures in recent years, which have affected the number of times that patients can attend.
National changes to pensions have been blamed, as well as ‘local operational issues which has left fewer GPs available to work within out-of-hours.
Kerri Neylon, primary care lead GP at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “A number of contributory factors mean the current out-of-hours service has become unsustainable.
“Temporary consolidation of services is the only option which will enable us to continue providing this crucial service in the immediate future.
“This formalises the ad-hoc arrangement which has increasingly become the norm in recent months and provides patients and staff with certainly and reliability.
“We are absolutely committed to delivering a long-term sustainable, safe and reliable out-of-hours service to patients across Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
“The long-term delivery model, which uses new technology, alongside smarter recruitment is demonstrably the best way to meet demand.
“We are working to implement those changes as quickly as possible and we are acutely aware of the need to do so. There will be regular updates on progress.”
The health board has stressed that the GP home visiting service is unaffected and any patient who is assessed by NHS 24 as requiring to visit an urgent out-of-hours centre, but unable to travel independently, will still get assistance from the patient transport service as required.
The board’s statement also says there is currently a major recruitment campaign for more GPs, advanced nurse practitioners and allied healthcare practitioners, which would provide an effective long-term solution.
Other improvements listed by the health board include:
- More effective use of digital technology such as ‘Anytime Anywhere’ and a new appointments system for out-of-hours services.
- A review of GP pay scales
- Additional engagement with Scottish Ambulance Service to increase involvement of paramedics in primary out-of-hours care
- And ‘a programme of improvements to improve environmental and operational challenges facing some centres’.
Out-of-hours services at Stobhill, Victoria and Royal Alexandra hospitals will remain open at weekends.
It’s my understanding that a very large percentage of our General Practitioners only work part time. Some more senior doctors split their time between NHS and private work. We now have the situation where the Vale Out of Hours is closed at the weekend and in hospitals at the weekend, or overnight, patients are mostly looked after by junior trainee doctors who have little time to do any more than fire fight. I also hear that ambulances and paramedics’ work is being prioritised and while someone with a heart attack might get immediate attention they do not have the resources to deal with many other things that cause distress and where a doctor cannot be found to help.
We hear stories about taxation disadvantages that are blamed for medical staff working less hours than we would like. I do not know the background to this and there may be a justified case. My son laments about a swings and roundabouts situation where he is taxed at the rate for Scotland but he pays National Insurance at a much higher rate because of the rules that are set for English earners and taxation allowances. Scotland has control over income tax rates and bands but not National Insurance; there is no joined up system to take account of the situation In Scotland.
As I say, my son laments about it but works full time and gets on with it. Clearly the medical profession are able to cut their hours and live on their part time earnings, unlike most of the rest of us. As I understand it this is why we have little or no out of hours medical cover. I also understand that a previous pay agreement allowed most doctors to opt out of working unsociable hours but unfortunately we cannot always guarantee to be taken ill or be injured 9 to 5 on weekdays.
The story above tells us that there might be a review of medical pay scales; I fear that horse may have bolted and it might be very difficult to persuade the medical profession that we need a good standard of care 24/7. These are all things that we might be able to sort when we finally cut the ties to big brother in Westminster.