Staff shortages keep Migdale ward shut
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A WARD at Migdale Hospital remains closed in the run-up to Christmas with no date for its re-opening due to a staff shortage.
NHS Highland said this week the Strathy ward at the hospital in Bonar Bridge is shut because of a national shortage of mental health workers.
However it was “hopeful” that it would re-open in the “near future.”
The first signs of problems came last month when it no longer took “new admissions” before being closed soon after.
And in its latest statement this week, NHS Highland said: “Strathy Ward at Migdale Hospital remains closed. There is a national shortage of mental health professionals at this time.
“However all efforts are being undertaken to obtain registered mental health nurses both in the short and long term and we are hopeful that we will be able to open the unit in the near future.”
Health chiefs recently told an MSP that the ward is short of more than five full-time mental health nurses. Highlands and Islands Labour MSP, Rhoda Grant, wrote to NHS Highland’s Chief Executive, Iain Stewart, to ask more questions about the closure, following representations from a concerned constituent.
“The chief executive’s reply reveals a very shocking picture of mental health staff shortages which are especially felt in a rural area such as Sutherland,” said Mrs Grant.
“It brings home the dire shortage of such staff and prompts the question of whether facilities such as the Strathy ward can ever reopen without a huge investment in both training and funding.”
Mrs Grant has written to Health Secretary, Jeane Freeman, to ask what steps the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that mental health
facilities and services are retained and expanded in the region.
The health authority’s reply highlights that the full establishment for the Strathy ward for qualified staff is 10.32 whole time equivalents (WTE) but there are 5.64 WTE registered mental health nurse vacancies.
The chief executive said shortages meant that on the ward there would have been only the equivalent of just over two full-time staff available to work there, when staff on sick leave and maternity leave were taken into consideration.
NHS Highland has stressed that Migdale Hospital’s general Kylesku ward remains open and busy.
In November NHS Highland said that older patients requiring inpatient mental health care would need to be admitted to New Craigs in Inverness.
Mrs Grant added: “I know that New Craigs has its own staffing problems and that community services have been cut.”
