Options to tackle a projected £11.6 million overspend in Fife’s under pressure health and social care sector have been thrashed out behind closed doors amid fears for staff morale.
The public and press were excluded from a private session of the new integrated joint board yesterday where service changes, including cuts to bed numbers and staff relocations, were discussed.
The move was made following concern that publishing in-depth discussions before final decisions were made could cause anxiety among workers.
This was despite the efforts of a number of members to allow the public to stay.
Bizarrely, the content of the discussions will come under the microscope at a Fife Council scrutiny committee on Tuesday, which will likely be held in public.
The integrated joint board (IJB) comprises members of NHS Fife and Fife Council and has responsibility for services such as home care, delayed discharges and community health services.
Members were yesterday asked to look at a package of potential savings and investments to cut the projected overspend to £6.5m.
Some of the reduction will come from cutting costs in prescribing in primary care but the rest will be met through what has been described as service change.
Public minutes from a previous finance committee indicate options included expanding services to support more people at home and implementing methods to prevent unnecessary hospital stays for those who do not need clinical care.
All of this could result in a reduction in hospital beds, with staff members relocating throughout the service as the need for agency nurses declines.
IJB member, Councillor Tim Brett, called for the discussions to be held in public.
“We have a duty to be as open as possible about our decisions and actions,” he said.
“We are spending huge amounts of public money and making significant changes to our services…
“We should be making these decisions in public in order that the public can have confidence in that.”
But NHS Fife chair Allan Burns said he wanted to be able to have difficult, in-depth discussions outwith “the glare of somebody running away, creating publicity and causing anxiety.”
Debbie Thompson, Unison branch secretary, said anxiety had already been caused by a lack of information from the board and called for proper communication with staff.
“You are building anxiety yourselves without anyone else,” she said.
The issue of commercial sensitivities was also raised and after a vote it was decided to hold the discussion in private and the final decision in public.
