As part of its on-going exploration of some of the problems encountered by the acute medical specialties in Scotland, The Herald has today published new data on patient to doctor ratios at night in Scottish hospitals which it has obtained under Freedom of Information legislation.
Commenting on this data, Dr Neil Dewhurst, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, said,
“As NHS Boards can record data in different ways, this data would benefit from verification. However, the data clearly suggests variation in cover for out of hours medical care in hospitals throughout Scotland. The limited research that is available would suggest that patient to doctor ratios have not changed much over the last decade and that small numbers of doctors continue to be responsible for large numbers of patients at night. While these ratios are worked out on a proportionate basis, these teams are responsible for covering all medical wards, surgical patients requiring medical care, High Dependency Units and Acute Medical Assessment Units. It can be difficult to predict how many of these patients will require urgent treatment during the night, so it is essential to provide sufficient capacity within these rotas to cover both planned and unplanned care. The patient to doctor ratios reported by some NHS Boards would suggest that there may not be much capacity within some of these rotas to cover a high level of unplanned care, particularly if these rotas are further stretched by unfilled vacancies or staff absence.”
“The RCPE is working with the Scottish Government to improve standards in unscheduled care and we will be visiting all 28 Acute Medical Assessment Units in Scotland to undertake a detailed review of patient flow, service configuration and workforce capacity prior to making evidence-based recommendations to the Scottish Government to improve standards of care.”
