Slashing the number of the beds, from 29 to 16 at the Balivanich hospital has caused alarm in Uist and Benbecula.
Benbecula Community Council criticised NHS Western Isles for proceeding to “reduce hospital bed numbers without any consultation whatsoever with the communities affected.
“It is presented as a fait accompli as though the views of local constituents, and existing/prospective patients, are unimportant,” said the community forum.
It claimed elderly patients and children would have to travel long distances for fairly minor procedures.
Claims that staff redundancies will be inevitable, said the comunity council.
However, Western Isles Nurse Director Sandy Brown insisted only around 15 people
are treated as in-
In addition, there will be no job losses, he stressed.
Mr Brown stated: “There will be no reduction in hospital staffing. The changes planned are in fact intended to strengthen nursing provision to improve patient safety and offer a much more attractive career pathway for nurses.
“The health board is increasing the seniority of the nursing staff and training them to provide a higher level of care.”
He added: “The hospital is staffed to cover the average bed occupancy over a period of years (15 beds). The provision of staffing allows for a degree of flexibility in approach to beds.
“The beds could be increased to 20 if there is a need during any period of peak demand, and the new staffing model would support this flexibility. This is also based on the information of usage over the same number of years.”
“There have been no transfers from Uist due to capacity issues and would not anticipate this happening as we implement a modernised service.”
Concerns over hospital bed cuts
11 February 2015