LISTEN: Threat St John's Children's Ward Downgrade 'Could Be Permanent'
West Lothian Council is accusing NHS Lothian of failing to provide assurances regular services will resume at St John's hospital in Livingston after the service closed to in-patients because of staff shortages.
West Lothian Council has expressed outrage that that changes to Paediatric Services at St John’s Hospital in Livingston could be in place permanently.
NHS Lothian downgraded services at the hospital earlier this month stating that they had problems with staffing rotas in July and August. They stated that the downgrade would run for a period of around six weeks.
However NHS Lothian have now failed to provide assurances that regular services at the Children’s Ward will resume again following the downgrade of services earlier this month.
Our reporter Shiona McCallum interviewed Leader of West Lothian Council John McGinty:
Dr Eddie Doyle, Divisional Medical Director, Women’s and Children’s Services, NHS Lothian, said: “We have been clear that the safety of children must be our top priority and that this reduction in opening hours is the safest option for the time being.
“We will be meeting with our clinical teams and the Scottish Government in early August to review the delivery of the changes to the children’s inpatient service over July and to look at the sustainability of the workforce for the months ahead.
“All our services must be appropriately staffed without the unacceptable risk of last-minute closure. “We have relied on our dedicated staff from St John’s and across Lothian to work additional hours to provide these services, but we cannot continue to rely indefinitely on a small number of staff working excessive hours."