Consultants voice fears over staff plan for paediatric unit
Consultants at Scotland’s largest children’s hospital have expressed “deep concern” about plans to cut the number of intensive care nurses – warning it will affect the quality of care.
In a letter leaked to The Herald, senior doctors suggest the move would take staffing levels in the intensive care unit at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, at Yorkhill, Glasgow, below national standards.
They also say they fear plans to offer new, highly specialised treatments will be compromised. They describe the scheme to shift nurses from the paediatric intensive care unit(PICU) to neonatal wards for newborn babies as a staffing cut of 30%.
It is understood health board NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is looking at the shake-up amid a severe shortage of neonatal staff.
As The Herald revealed last week, nurses have already spoken out about the reorganisation, saying it will put seriously ill children at risk.
The letter, written to managers, shows similar concerns are shared by some of the top paediatric doctors in the country. It is signed by Dr Jennifer Scarth, consultant paediatric intensivist, on behalf of all the consultants in the intensive care unit.
She says: “On behalf of the PICU consultant group I am writing to express our deep concern at proposed changes to nursing staffing on PICU and potential impact on patient care. Unilaterally deciding to disregard national standards of staffing that are in place across all UK centres, including the other part of the service in Edinburgh, can not be tolerated.”
The consultants go on to say capacity will be affected and later add: “We pride ourselves in offering a high quality of patient care that is flexible in meeting the competing demands that are placed on the service and very much wish for this to continue and feel that the proposed measures will affect our ability to do so.”
Yorkhill hospital provides a number of services for children from across Scotland. It is the only centre that performs heart operations and offers ECMO – a procedure to oxygenate the blood. A number of children suffering from swine flu have been treated in the intensive care unit this winter.
Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s health spokeswoman said: “This letter raises very serious concerns.
“The Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon needs to get a grip of the situation.
“She simply cannot stand back and watch as national standards of staffing are unilaterally disregarded and patient care is compromised. This process is being driven by budget cuts and I share Dr Scarth’s concerns that cutting staff numbers in intensive care by almost one-third will cause a real problem and it needs to be challenged.”
Dr Jim Beattie, associate medical director for women’s and children’s services for NHS GGC, said: “Nurse staffing arrangements in our paediatric ITU and neonatal units are being considered to ensure we have the right balance and mix of nursing skills. I can give an absolute assurance ITU services at the RHSC will not be compromised and will not affect our plans to deliver service developments.
“Any suggestion current standards of safety and compliance with national staffing guidelines could slip are simply not true.
“This is about looking at how we can best use our nursing resources to ensure we have our specialist staff in the right place at the right time – to improve our service, not detract from it.”
He said decisions would only be taken after full consultation with staff and added: “I also wish to reassure your readers that any suggestion that our proposals would see a 30% reduction in PICU nurse staffing levels are unfounded.”
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