NHS FIFE and the Scottish Government have rejected claims that patients are at risk of contracting hospital superbugs because of cleaners losing their jobs.
Scottish Labour said over 100 cleaning posts have been lost in the NHS in Scotland over the past year, despite health secretary Nicola Sturgeon promising to recruit an extra 600 cleaners last year.
Figures obtained under freedom of information legislation by Scottish Labour found 102 cleanings posts have been scrapped over the past 12 months nine in Fife, 65 at Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 20 at Dumfries and Galloway and eight in the Forth area.
However, NHS Fife said there has been no reduction in the number of cleaning staff employed by the health board, and staff levels have increased dramatically over the last three years.
Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said, “The SNP Government is forcing health boards across Scotland to make savings in frontline services, but hospital cleaning must be protected if we are to stand a chance of beating superbugs like C. difficile and MRSA.
“Nicola Sturgeon stood up at the SNP conference in Glasgow and promised hundreds more hospital cleaners. Instead, what we are seeing is cutbacks in hospital cleaning.
“There is no doubt that when NHS boards cuts cleaning then infection rates go up and patients get ill.”
However, a spokeswoman for NHS Fife said, “We have not reduced the number of cleaning staff.”
She said NHS Fife increased the number of cleaning staff in post by 47 between 2007-8 and 2009-10 and increased budgeted staff levels by over 29 whole-time equivalents in the same period, reflecting additional funding received from the Scottish Government.
She added that the total number of cleaning hours increased between 2008-9 and 2009-10 and the cleaning budget rose from £4.73 million to £5.1 million over the same period.
According to figures released last week, deaths from C. diff dropped to 139 in 2009 from 248 the previous year. The number of fatalities from MRSA halved from 48 to 24.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said, “Since 2007 more than 1000 additional cleaners have been employed by the NHS in hospitals across Scotland.
“The Scottish Government is investing £54 million over three years to ensure the highest possible standards of cleanliness and reduce the risk of infection among patients and staff.
“We are already seeing the benefits of these measures.”