NHS Fife accused of budget 'shambles'
NHS Fife has been described as a "shambles" after overspending its operational division budget by £330,000 in just two months.
- By Aileen Robertson
- Published in the Courier : 20.07.10
- Published online : 20.07.10 @ 12.39pm
"This is mismanagement at its worst," said Councillor Andrew Rodger, who has been outspoken in his criticism of health bosses, particularly in relation to the closure of ward 13 and the downgrading of overnight emergency services at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy.
Mr Rodger believes that NHS Fife is failing to maintain services because it has not been able to manage its finances.
But NHS Fife has insisted the imminent loss of 30 beds from ward 13 and accident and emergency (A&E) contingency plans, under which overnight emergency cases are transferred from Kirkcaldy to Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline, are not related to budget pressures.
Instead, the board has blamed the European working time directive, which has restricted doctors' hours, and difficulties in finding locum cover for the closures.
Keeping Victoria's A&E and ward 13 open amid staffing shortages would compromise patient safety, said NHS Fife.
Mr Rodger said, "Honestly, it's a shambles. For the A&E to be closed again shows they are liable to do anything."
Papers for the operational division's last meeting outline how the £330,000 overspend for the first two months of the financial year breaks down.
Among the major outlays were paying nurses and doctors, and the use of agency locums.
The overspend is set against a backdrop of falling standards in training for junior doctors, with medical director Dr Gordon Birnie admitting difficulties in drawing up rotas had left junior doctors so stretched that training was becoming "sub-standard."
Mr Rodger said, "This is about poor management coming back to bite them. What junior doctor would come to Fife to train when there is a lack of clinical supervision?"
Under the Right For Fife plan, it is set to have one A&E at Victoria when the hospital's new wing is commissioned in 2012.
Investigate
Mr Rodger said, "Over the next 18 months, there are going to be a lot more weekends when they are not going to have clinical cover at Victoria's A&E.
"I'm calling on local politicians to come and investigate how this hospital is being run, and to ask why elderly people are being left lying on trolleys when another 30 beds are being taken out of the system."
He added, "Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon isn't happy with the situation and she's told them to get their act together.
"She has publicly stated she wants services reinstated. Is the minister now wrong?"
An NHS Fife spokeswoman said the idea that services were being disrupted as a result of budget constraints was "misguided."
She said, "NHS Fife has made clear from the outset that, when reaching a decision to implement its contingency plan, its primary concern is to ensure that clinical services are being provided with safe levels of medical staffing.
"The contingency plan itself was drawn up to respond to difficulties in clinical staffing due to gaps in trainee rotas and difficulty appointing locum staff to fill them at short notice.
"Decisions on whether the plan continues or is implemented rely entirely on the levels of clinical staffing available."
She added, "The suggestion that the reasons for drawing up the contingency plan, which was first made public in November 2009, have any link to the current financial position of NHS Fife or any link to financial pressures at all is misguided.
"The reasons for decommissioning the beds in ward 13 were clearly stated in the paper presented to the operational division committee on July 14."
09.54am - 21.07.2010 Joppie - Dundee, UK Report This
I agree. It would seem that the people employed as senior managers within Fife Health Board are in way above their heads. I think it's time for a wholesale clearout
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