By Claire Warrender

NHS Fife has denied claims that changes to the way critical care is delivered to very seriously ill patients in the region could put lives at risk.

A senior staff member at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy told The Courier yesterday that management was planning to relocate all critical care services from the Victoria to Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline, 13 miles away.

At present critical care is provided both at the Victoria’s high dependency unit and Queen Margaret’s intensive therapy unit.

The staff member said nurses were concerned the move could prove detrimental to inpatients at the Kirkcaldy hospital and was potentially life-threatening for the people of east Fife who already have to travel several miles before they reach any hospital.

They have also raised fears about how the two units will be staffed.

When contacted for an explanation, NHS Fife initially denied there was any truth in the allegation but later clarified this to say that some patients would indeed be transferred from Kirkcaldy to Dunfermline.

They said that while the number of critical care beds at the Victoria would not be reduced, anyone with multiple organ failure who requires mechanical ventilation for more than a few hours would be sent to the ITU at Queen Margaret.

The high dependency unit at the Victoria will remain open and will continue to treat patients with less serious conditions, such as single organ failure.

The changes will come into effect at the end of February, and they are expected to affect around one patient per week.

Once the new extension at the Victoria is completed in 2010, the service will move back to Kirkcaldy under the Right for Fife agreement.

Medical director Dr Gordon Birnie categorically denied claims by staff that the health board had been forced into making the move because of international, national and local difficulties in providing experienced medical cover for critical care services.

He also denied it had anything to do with the cost implications of having consultant anaesthetists covering on-call rotas at both hospitals at night.

“The medical high dependency unit (at Victoria) will be able to provide the same range of expertise as currently available within the current critical care facility,” said Dr Birnie.

“The only difference will be that the few patients who require mechanical ventilation for more than a few hours will be transferred to QMH.

“The principle and safety of stabilising and transferring critically ill patients is well established.

“This will not be detrimental to the inpatients at the Victoria Hospital and will not be life threatening to the patients of east Fife.”

The doctor said patients would benefit from the integration of the critical care facilities and that a series of meetings with staff would develop ways to ensure the safety of all patients. Staffing levels for the units has yet to be decided.

However, Fife councillor Andrew Rodger, a long-term health campaigner and a former member of Fife Health Board, has criticised the decision and said staff working in critical care should be listened to.

“We have two hospitals carrying out surgical procedures at the moment so we should have two intensive care units,” he said.

“We want to eliminate risk and that risk is, there is a 13-mile corridor between the two hospitals.

“These services should be delivered on both sites until the new set-up is up and running.

“Managers appear to have taken this decision on their own before passing it on to staff. The question is, are they telling the truth or is it really a cost-cutting exercise or that they can’t get the medical cover required?”