Health / Health staff ‘exceptionally’ busy over summer
THE SUMMER has been an “exceptionally busy” time for health staff in Shetland, a meeting has heard.
NHS Shetland’s director of nursing and acute services Kathleen Carolan said demand was allied with staff self-isolating or being off unwell.
“We have not stopped any services – we have just limited them,” she told a meeting of the NHS Shetland board on Tuesday.
A report presented to members of the board added: “Where possible we have maintained as close to ‘business as usual’ for services as possible to avoid creating further backlogs and/or compound the pre-existing health inequalities associated with the pandemic.”
The report said the preparation the health board undertook to support winter pressures has helped it to manage the period of increased pressure over the summer.
It said there has been an “increase in emergency activity, inpatient bed occupancy, the number of people medically fit who are delayed in hospital and a reduction in community care and residential care capacity”.
Meanwhile a report summarising public health activity in 2021/22 was also presented to the board.
A key theme continued to be the response to the Covid pandemic.
But director of public health Dr Susan Laidlaw said reducing the impact of poverty and socio-economic disadvantage was another theme.
“We know that as well as affecting individuals’ physical health, the pandemic (and the actions taken to control the pandemic) have had a profound impact on people’s mental health and wellbeing, and in many cases on their income and livelihood,” she wrote.
“Unless addressed, this will result in poorer health for many people, and a bigger inequalities gap in our community, which is detrimental to everyone.
“At the time of writing, these issues have been further exacerbated by other national and international factors leading to a cost of living crisis in the UK.
“In parallel, we also have an international climate change emergency requiring radical and sustained action, which can seem overwhelming, and sometimes at odds with the immediate solutions to other complex problems (such as single use PPE during the pandemic) and with our life in Shetland (reliance on air travel as a lifeline service for example).”
Dr Laidlaw said there were some activities that can have positive effects on health, finances and the climate – such as active travel – but these often required “significant changes” to be taken at every level, from individuals through to government.
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