A senior nurse has called for a public inquiry amid claims scores of Fife patients are dying unnecessarily.
The staff nurse, with decades of service, said she feared the winter surge in admissions as Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy was already buckling under pressure.
The whistleblower claimed: “I believe deaths could have been prevented. If monitoring had been carried out more effectively and if we had enough staff, dozens of deaths may have been prevented.”
NHS Fife robustly refuted the allegations.
Acute services medical director Dr Gordon Birnie said: “Monitoring systems are in place both around capacity and mortality and, like other boards in Scotland, we work closely with NHS Health Improvement Scotland tounderstand our hospital standardised mortality.
“We have developed a system of reviewing the care of all patients who die in hospital using an internationally recognised tool, a selection of the deaths are then scrutinised by two senior doctors who are not involved in patients’ care.
“We refute the suggestion of ‘dozens of preventable deaths’ as claimed.
“Any staff member who believes this to be the case has a professional responsibility to act and to bring this to the attention of senior management.”
However, the staff member said she had decided to speak out because “the people of Fife deserve better”.
“I have been a nurse for many years but I have never experienced anything like this in all my life, the way the hospital is managed is my main concern. It has been such a hellish two weeks and this is only September.
“I am so frightened of what will happen this winter, I am close to a nervous breakdown.”
She listed a number of claims against the service, including:
* Patients being placed unmonitored in “cupboards” without windows or toilet facilities because there is no room.
* Patients who should be on cardiac monitoring being unmonitored.
* Poor attitude from some staff with a new senior charge nurse being “nothing short of a bully”.
* Inexperienced junior charge nurses being drafted in.
* Lack of performance monitoring.
* Staff frightened to complain.
* Breaches of health and safety, fire and infection control risks.
* Staff on long-term sick leave because of the strain.
Claiming a vast number of complaints, she said: “This is coming from someone who has seen the Vic working appropriately.
“But since the closure of the Queen Margaret that has had a direct impact on a lot of jobs and our ability to do our jobs appropriately. We have to deal with 120% work with only 60-80% of the staff. That is just not sustainable.”
The nurse said she was not out to cause trouble.
Speaking out was “against everything I believe in,” but she felt Fife needed a public inquiry like that in mid-Staffordshire.
Executive director of nursing Dr Scott McLean said all feedback was valued and NHS Fife encouraged staff to discuss concerns with management.
“We are concerned that these claims from an individual member of staff will raise undue concerns and we would reassure our patients and the public that Victoria Hospital is a safe environment where excellent quality care is delivered, but we always strive with our staff to deliver even better service.
“We would reiterate to our hardworking staff that there are safe and well-established mechanisms in place through which they can and should report concerns.”
Dr McLean said substantial investment in recruiting extra medical and nursing staff in advance of winter to maintain standards of care over what is traditionally a busy period was being taken forward.
A discharge hub has been established to improve the flow of patients out of hospital. He said complaints at the Vic were now “considerably” lower than those received when the new wing opened.
In the last year 1,300 compliments were received, while sickness absence figures continued to improve.
“NHS Fife is clear that our continuing improvement in safety, governance and planning for the busy winter period should reassure patients, public and staff,” he said.
A spokesman for Healthcare improvement Scotland said: “The most recent analysis of Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios (HSMR) in NHS Fife was completed in August 2013.
“The conclusion reached was that data reviewed was below a level which required escalation.”