The staffing crisis facing Tayside health chiefs has been laid bare by the revelation that not a single graduate applied to work in Angus adult psychiatry services currently at the centre of a controversial review.
After the region was singled out for criticism by Scotland’s Auditor General for approaching a nationwide staff squeeze with a huge overspend on its pay budget, politicians fighting to save the Mulberry adult psychiatric unit at Stracathro from closure have now accused the Scottish Government of “dodging responsibility” on the issue.
The 25-bed Mulberry ward which provides acute general adult psychiatry (GAP) beds within the Susan Carnegie centre at Stracathro, near Brechin, was closed in an interim measure earlier this year due to staffing shortages.
There are fears it will be axed in a review of Tayside-wide provision, with a final decision expected later this year.
North east Conservative MSP Liam Kerr and Angus MP Kirstene Hair pressed NHS Tayside on the preferred option for the future design of in-patient services for people with acute mental health and learning disability in Tayside, and the staffing challenges have been detailed as part of the response from the body’s deputy chief executive, Professor Andrew Russell.
He told the politicians: “The nursing workforce is ageing.
“To maintain current levels of nurse staffing, we need to attract 50 new employees per year.
“Of 92 graduates completing training programmes in Dundee annually, this year only 46 are available in Tayside.
“Of 21 newly-qualified staff who applied to work in GAP in-patient services, 18 wanted to work in Dundee, three in Perth and Kinross and 0 in Angus.
“This presents a significant challenge. We no longer have the workforce to safely provide services across three sites.
“With contingency plans in place we are learning that it is neither effective nor efficient to have to review sustainability on a six-monthly basis.”
He added: “We want to ensure the public that service changes are being driven by safety, sustainability, clinical viability and workforce availability, and a desire to ensure best use of public funds.
In response, Mr Kerr said, “It is deeply troubling to see that national doctor shortages are having such an impact in Angus.
“This only goes to further highlight the need for the SNP in Holyrood to step up and get on with improving NHS services right across Scotland – but particularly here in the north east.
Ms Hair added, “Residents right across Angus will be incredibly concerned to see that NHS Tayside does not have the resources to safely staff their current sites.
“It is unacceptable for the Scottish Government to pass the buck when it is their policies in Holyrood that are letting down the NHS in Angus.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The redesign of adult mental health services in Tayside is led by Perth & Kinross Integrated Joint Board (IJB) on behalf of the three Tayside IJBs and in partnership with NHS Tayside. The consultation is going forward on the basis of previous discussion with stakeholders on the options.
“The Scottish Government is in regular contact with NHS Tayside and Perth & Kinross IJB.
“We are fully committed to a sustainable NHS workforce, which continues to deliver a consistently high quality service to the people of Scotland, and last month published a detailed framework for improving workforce planning across the country.
“This government has delivered an all-time record number of NHS staff, with an increase of more than 12,000 (whole time equivalent) staff since taking office – as well as record high funding for Scotland’s health service.”
