Loss of 21 healthcare assistant posts confirmed for Royal Victoria
More than 21 healthcare assistant jobs are to go in elderly wards at Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) in Dundee, NHS Tayside have confirmed.
- By Marjory Inglis, health reporter
- Published in the Courier : 06.05.10
- Published online : 06.05.10 @ 08.38pm
A mixture of part-time and full-time workers are affected by the decision to cut 21 whole-time equivalent posts — a third of the healthcare assistant workforce on the hospital's elderly care wards.
All those affected are to be offered retraining and alternative posts elsewhere in the health service.
Last month NHS Tayside confirmed it was closing Ward 6 at the hospital amid fears of wider cuts to services.
All the nurses affected have been told they will transfer to the four remaining wards for the elderly at RVH during the phased closure.
NHS Tayside said an additional 2.5 whole-time equivalent nurses will join the total complement of trained nurses on the four remaining wards-however, a spokeswoman was unable to say whether these posts would be filled by new recruits or nurses whose jobs have disappeared elsewhere in NHS Tayside.
She was also unable to give a head count of those affected by the loss of 21 whole-time equivalent healthcare assistant posts.
A Tayside doctor with a special interest in care of the elderly accused senior management of presenting a confused picture that made it difficult to work out what was really happening.
'Shell game'
"It is like a shell game," said the doctor, who preferred not to be identified. "They are shifting so many people around it is hard to keep track of what is actually disappearing.
"Whatever management are saying it is clearly a cost-cutting exercise to close beds on the RVH site and other places.
"The general managers' style is they decide what they want to do, then they speak to the nurses, doctors and other staff and tell them what is happening and then say ‘We consulted with you.'
"There is nothing you can do to influence things once they have made up their mind."
A nurse on one of the RVH wards has spoken about the need for more provision for the elderly in future as the increasingly ageing population places more demands on the health service.
Carol Goodman, NHS Tayside's general manager for the medicine directorate, said the health authority was modernising and redesigning medicine for the elderly services.
Changes would ensure elderly patients are assessed more quickly and aim to reduce "unnecessary prolonged lengths of stay" in a hospital bed.
"We already confirmed at the end of March that Ward 6 at RVH will have a planned, phased closure over a five-month period," said Mrs Goodman.
"There are absolutely no plans to close Wards 4, 5, 7 and 8 at the hospital."
The new ways of caring for patients being introduced required an essential change to the make-up of the teams of nursing staff on the wards at RVH, she said, adding, "Therefore, we will be increasing the number of registered nursing staff in Wards 4, 5, 7 and 8 at RVH.
"All those registered nurses affected by the closure of Ward 6 will be offered suitable alternative employment within these other wards at the hospital.
"This increase in nursing staff at RVH means that there will be fewer healthcare assistants on each of the ward teams and, as such, we have already started working to find suitable alternative employment in NHS Tayside for all those affected."
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