NHS cuts to vital patient service causes backlash

Nov 20 2009 by Stuart Wilson, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

A VITAL health service is understaffed and struggling to treat patients.

That’s the claim of furious workers manning the overrun Ayrshire Doctors on Call team.

NHS budget cuts have left medics with only two cars to cover more than 360,000 people every night.

And staff claim health bosses are more interested in budgets than patients.

On one night last week, harassed staff failed to make an astounding 16 of their 23 call-outs in the target time.

They say it’s physically impossible to cover their huge patch between Ballantrae in the south and Weymss Bay in the north.

And doctors are so fed up that few are volunteering to man a crucial standby service.

One staff member admitted: “In the whole history of ADOC, I’ve never known things to be this bad.

“Some doctors are cheesed off and refusing to do standby shifts, so there’s only two cars to cover the whole area.

“It simply can’t be done and as a result, the cars aren’t getting to their call-outs anywhere close to the target times.

“Up to 16 were missed on one night last week, which says it all.

“It’s got to the stage that doctors are so disgusted they just tell patients the truth about why they’re late.

“Patients need to know what’s going on here.”

The Post revealed earlier this year that ADOC was being streamlined to try and save money.

The service, which used to run three emergency cars per night, has been cut to just two on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

But insiders say the move has been a disaster, with teams given a massive area to try and cover, while drivers work with no rest.

A source said: “It simply can’t be done and when you have drivers working a whole shift without so much as a tea break, it’s totally unacceptable.

“One car could be down in Ballantrae while the other is up in Weymss Bay, so if a call comes in halfway between those places they’ll have a long wait.

“It sounds terrible to say but someone will have to be seriously ill or die before this changes.”

The service is used for patients who need urgent attention during the night and cannot wait until the morning to see their GP.

But it’s alleged that one patient had to wait seven hours for a visit last week.

NHS chiefs refused to answer claims they told staff to “sail closer to the wind” before activating standby crews.

And they could only provide call-out stats for the last year, rather than the period since cuts were made in September.

NHS Health Care Director Liz Moore said: “We do not comment on unsubstantiated and anonymous claims.

“However, we will carry out our own internal investigation into this matter.

“We set ourselves very high targets for meeting triage times.

“We monitor our own performance over the year which show that we meet more than 97 out of every 100 calls within the triage time.

“When we don’t achieve this, we undertake investigations to improve our response.”

Ayr MSP John Scott is disturbed by the claims and is pledging his own investigation.

He said: “I am extremely concerned at these reports.

“With cases of swine flu set to rise, it is vitally important that all health services are fully manned and operating properly.

“I will be contacting NHS Ayrshire and Arran to investigate these reports fully.”