Health / Health and social care services face ‘tricky’ winter, meeting hears
A WARNING has been sounded that health and social care services in Shetland face a “really, really tricky” winter.
Director of community health and social care Jo Robinson told a meeting of the NHS Shetland board on Tuesday that “we are really, really short of resources – and I think I just need to be really open about that”.
However NHS Shetland’s director of nursing and acute services Kathleen Carolan said she was confident that services can get through the worst of the winter pressure.
“There are some unpredictable features (…), but given where we are going into winter then it looks like we’ll be able to sustain services,” she said.
Carolan added the health board experienced a peak of pressure in the summer and managed to cope with that challenge.
A question had been raised about how fewer available beds in the Gilbert Bain Hospital could affect winter planning.
Earlier this year NHS Shetland confirmed the number of beds in the hospital’s surgical unit reduced from 20 to 13 on a permanent basis following a pilot.
The health board said at the time that the pilot was undertaken to “better reflect the number of patients needing inpatient care”.
Carolan said this removal of seven beds has already been tested in the summer months.
Robinson told Tuesday’s meeting that winter planning was about “absolutely maximising the availability of resources”.
She said there is a lot of work still to be done in areas such as the redesign of care at home, and care homes.
Robinson added that officials are looking at care home availability over the winter period, while there have been conversations over where family members could step in during periods of bad weather.
Carolan also said a bid has gone to the Scottish Government for winter pressure funding regarding care.
A winter plan went in front of NHS Shetland board members which describes the health and social care provision and arrangements which will be put in place over winter.
It has been jointly developed by the director of nursing and acute services and the director of community health and social care with input from the Scottish Ambulance Service.
Carolan said there were a few modifications in this year’s winter plan, particularly around adverse weather.
It includes a mention of how staff can access accommodation in the event of adverse weather, with people who live outside of Lerwick able to stay in the town for the duration of a shift pattern.
Councillor Emma Macdonald said she was pleased to see additions in the plan around adverse weather.
She said during moments of extreme weather staff go “above and beyond”.
“I think as a community everybody is always so impressed with the things staff do – they stay over in care centres, they stay in the hospital,” Macdonald said.
The SIC leader added that these staff put Shetland and the community’s needs over their own needs.
The plan also highlights significant challenges presented by weather in the winter of 2023/24, which affected transport and logistics, as well as Covid sickness.
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