Concerns Perth Royal Infirmary being 'downgraded' as bed numbers fall
There has been a decrease of more than 1700 beds at the hospital over the last three years.
Last updated 16th Mar 2021
The number of available beds at Perth Royal Infirmary has dropped by more than 1700 in the last three years, raising fresh fears Tayside's services are being centralised to Ninewells.
Figures released to the Scottish Conservatives through Freedom of Information, which reveal that the average number of beds at PRI has decreased from 21,098 in 2017 to 19,333 up to September 2020 – a decrease of 1,765.
Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser said: Commenting, Mr Fraser said: “This is a worrying disclosure. PRI is a hugely important facility for the local community and this notable decrease in beds is alarming.
“The ability to have two hospitals in PRI and Ninewells in Dundee is beneficial to the residents living in Tayside.
"However, with beds being lost every year at PRI, its ability to treat patients is being hampered with patients potentially being shifted to Ninewells which is less convenient for rural residents.
"We've lost maternity, paediatric, pathology and emergency surgery in recent years and this will add to worries that people have locally that the excellent facility is being side-lined and we're not making full use of it."
What does NHS Tayside say?
An NHS Tayside spokesperson said, “The public should be reassured that Perth Royal Infirmary (PRI) is firmly established as a key part of our acute services plan and has a vital role to play in the future delivery of healthcare services in Tayside.
“This can be evidenced with our very recent announcement that plans for a new multi-million pound state-of-the-art elective care centre to be built at PRI are gathering pace.
“This specialist facility will be a centre of excellence for planned surgery for the whole of Tayside and sees a significant investment at PRI, underlining NHS Tayside’s commitment to providing first-class healthcare from the PRI site for the future.
“Over the last 15 years, NHS Tayside has made significant investment to the PRI site to provide essential services for people in Perth & Kinross and from wider Tayside. Additions to the site include the Community Maternity Unit, the renal dialysis unit, the haematology and oncology units, the nuclear medicine department, the endoscopy unit and the centre for arthroplasty. The new Urology Treatment Centre also opened at PRI in 2019, seeing patients from across Tayside.
“Our clinical teams have been at the forefront of developing clinical services based on the best clinical evidence to deliver high-quality, safe and effective patient care. This evidence points to a significant shift to services away from hospital to provision in the community and people’s own homes, meaning that fewer inpatient beds are required.”