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Concern over scrapping hospital beds 9/10/11
Scrapping hospital beds in the main hospital in the Western Isles raised concerns at an clinical strategy update following the annual review of the isles' health board this week.
The vast majority of the the very small audience at the forum was health board personnel.
The number of inpatient beds may be slashed by over 65% under a major modernisation
revamp for the 20-
Health chiefs say health care can be delivered better and more efficiently by cutting 40 beds and using five wards plus a day case unit compare to the current seven inpatient wards.
Though the hospital is a relatively young age it is already outdated due to changes in medical practices and heath care trends.
The emphasis would shift away from inpatient care to day cases and outpatients. There would be more single rooms for inpatients and the endoscopy suite would be separate from theatres. A new maternity facility would incorporate a birthing pool and far less beds.
The ward for local mental health care may be scrapped and people requiring inpatient help sent to Inverness under one proposal.
Island resident Alice Mennie told the forum she believed it was all about cost cutting.
She said: "It sounds to me that is what is happening. The first thing to go is mental health services."
She pointed out the increase in orthopaedic treatments should need more nurses recruited.
NHS Western Isles director Nigel Hobson said: "The number of beds should not be used as an indicator of the hospital effectiveness."
He said the present mental health care model was presently "upside down" as everything was focused around the hospital. he promised the public would be given more details over the proposals.
Medical director Jim Ward promised: "We will not close anything until there is something better in its place."
Health board employee Eleanor Macleay was worried over difficulties in recruiting competent and quality surgeons if there was not sufficient opportunity for them to keep up their skills.
Mr Ward highlighted new measures would ensure doctors would be appraised for revalidation and required to demonstrate they are up to the job.
Later, islander Norman Smith criticised the board for not giving the event appropriate prominence. He said the poor advertising of the event could be easily missed by many and reduced its credibility.
He said: “I still remain to be convinced that this is predominantly nothing other
than a cost-
Mr Smith urged the health board to hold public meetings as part of their modernisation plans.
He said it was necessary that provision of care in the community is put in place in advance of the changes in mental health services.
He added: “If the intention is to "better meet the needs of the island population" and improve or fill "the gaps in the present service" then the present service should be expanded rather than reduced.
“Irrespective of how it is worded, the merging of two wards of 16 beds and 5 beds
respectively into a combined 10-