NHS Tayside has confirmed hospital porters are not allowed to move patients directly because of health and safety rules.
According to staff rules, although porters can push wheelchairs or assist with luggage, they cannot handle patients directly as they do not have proper training.
The issue came to light on Wednesday when The Courier revealed a porter at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee refused to help transfer a 92-year-old woman from a car into a wheelchair. Instead, the woman’s daughter had to try to move her, which led to the 92-year-old falling and bruising her elbow.
One porter said the staff member was only following hospital rules. He said, “The day I started the first thing I was told is that we are not insured to go out of the building and handle patients.
“We haven’t been trained. When we are called to a ward to take a patient out we are not allowed to touch them.
“We can push the wheelchair and take them from place to place but are not allowed to physically move them or anything like that.”
He added, “If the patient is that bad then they should be able to get patient transport to move them.”
Ninewells site manager Brian Main said there is a distinction between moving a patient in a wheelchair and physically lifting or moving them.
“The lady in the car needed somebody to physically help her out of it, which porters are not trained to do,” he said. “The most common assistance they provide is taking a wheelchair or assisting patients to the taxi rank by carrying their suitcase.
“There is no way we would allow patients to be handled by people that are not fully trained.”