Scotland's NHS stretched to breaking point, says BMA Chairman
The NHS in Scotland is stretched pretty much to breaking point and needs more staff in all posts, a leading doctor has warned.
The NHS in Scotland is stretched pretty much to breaking point and needs more staff in all posts, a leading doctor has warned.
Dr Peter Bennie, chairman of British Medical Association Scotland, said figures claiming that doctor numbers are at a record high are not relevant when there are vacancies across the country.
He told BBC Sunday Politics Scotland that consultants, doctors and nurses are having to take on more work “just to keep things running”.
NHS debate led to heated exchanges at First Minister's Questions last week.
Nicola Sturgeon suggested struggling accident-and-emergency units in England should look to Scotland but came under attack from the Tories and Labour over the SNP's stewardship of the NHS north of the border.
Dr Bennie told Sunday Politics Scotland: “We're running vacancies right across the country - urban, rural, hospital, GP.
“And we're just fed up with a mantra that says from the Government we have more doctors than ever before.
“The point is we need more again in order to be able to provide the service that people require.
“The relevant question is do we have enough doctors, do we have enough nurses, do we have enough staff outside the health service to provide the care that people need? And at present, we don't.”
He added: “We're stretched pretty much to breaking point, just trying to keep things going.
“If you take the situation with consultant vacancies, we have consultant posts vacant for over six months that are advertised that can't be filled.
“Basically what happens with that is that all of the other staff - consultants and other doctors and nurses - are taking on more work to try to keep things going.
“The majority of staff in the health service are working way beyond what they're actually supposed to be doing just to keep things running.
“And eventually that leads to personnel breakdown and eventually it leads to system breakdown.”
Scottish Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: “This is an incredibly serious warning from the BMA.
“It is painfully clear that the SNP's failure to properly workforce plan has left our NHS staff over-worked, under-valued and under-resourced.
“This has left our NHS struggling to cope with demand, and in the grip of a workforce crisis.
“A decade of SNP mismanagement has increased pressure on staff in every part of our health service - from nurses who say their workload is getting worse, to GPs who say their surgeries are understaffed.
“SNP cuts to social care are also adding more pressure to the primary and acute sector.
“Labour will not support an austerity budget and will instead offer amendments to the budget to use the new tax powers of the Scottish Parliament to stop the cuts.”