By Paul Reoch

A PERTH councillor has praised the accident and emergency unit of Perth Royal Infirmary, saying its high number of patients vindicates keeping it in Perth.

Figures obtained by The Courier through the Freedom of Information Act show that 24,391 patients visited the unit in 2005, with this increasing to 25,460 so far this year.

Yesterday, Councillor Alexander Stewart, whose Wellshill ward includes PRI, said that the statistics indicated how hard the A & E staff work and the “tremendous” job they do for the community.

“This is a huge volume of people coming to the A & E unit, providing help 365 days a year,” he said.

“This speaks volumes for the staff there and shows how important it is to keep the unit in Perth.

“The A & E staff provide a valuable service to the people of Perth and its wider area.”

He continued, “It hasn’t been helped by NHS Tayside taking away the emergency trauma unit to Ninewells Hospital. And also the number of patients has been increased by people who contacted NHS 24, who were less than impressed by them.”

The figures also show that nine patients were abusive to A & E staff at PRI last year, and Mr Stewart hit out at what he sees as “disgraceful.”

“Obviously I would not condone anyone who abuses medical or ancillary staff at the A & E unit—it’s absolutely crazy,” he said.

“It’s disgraceful if people behave like that when they are there to receive treatment.

“A & E staff are under enough pressure without having to contend with this type of behaviour.”

Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, also gave the figures her blessing.

“These figures show just how busy A & E at PRI can be and underline the importance of retaining full accident and emergency services in Perth,” she said.

Mr Stewart has previously called for specialist training for nursing staff in light of the abuse they are subject to.

The worst high-profile case to occur at the Perth hospital concerned serial sex offender William Kerr who was given a life sentence for attacking Perth nurse Pauline Dunnery in November 2003.

As a result of the incident, a review of security arrangements at PRI took place with extra patrols and personal alarms for staff.

In addition, the security camera system was upgraded and extended.

The Courier also requested statistics for the number of patients who were admitted to the A & E unit at PRI through drink-related injuries, and a breakdown of when these occurred, but NHS Tayside were unable to supply the figures.

A spokesperson said, “There is no further information available in respect of drink-related injuries, nor can the figures be broken down to highlight the number of attendances on any given day. Information relates to attendance volumes only.

“In order to produce this information a manual exercise would have to be undertaken to establish the dates and times of each attendance at A & E, in order to differentiate between midweek and weekends. There is no resource available to undertake this work.”