Patients are dying and there have been suicides among overstressed staff as a result of NHS rationalisation, a leading consultant in Lanarkshire claimed yesterday.
Patients are dying and there have been suicides among overstressed staff as a result of NHS rationalisation, a leading consultant in Lanarkshire claimed yesterday.
Dr Martin Watt of Monklands Hospital was speaking as Labour's campaign in Airdrie and Shotts ran into serious trouble over the fate of the accident and emergency department there.
Labour is now campaigning on the basis that the local A&E is "not closing" - but there has been no change to the plan to downgrade it to a non-emergency unit. Dr Watt called this claim by Labour's candidate Karen Whitefield "a dishonest spin on reality".
Pressed on why she appeared next to a Labour banner proclaiming the A&E had been saved, her staff told her local newspaper this was true because the facility "was being downgraded, not closed."
The SNP candidate, Sophia Coyle branded this claim "an absolute disgrace," while Mev Brown, who is standing for Scottish Voice NHSFirst, described the claim as "an appalling deception on the public".
Dr Watt, who was speaking at an event organised by Scottish Voice NHSFirst, said of the downgrading of the A&E: "It is an unpalatable fact people are dying in our hospitals because doctors and nurses are stretched beyond the limit.
"They are simply unable to give patients the attention to detail that is required and as a result, unfortunately, people are dying needlessly."
Dr Watt has been a doctor for 27 years and a consultant for 12. He was warned by bosses to stay quiet but he had decided to go public "before the whole system caves in," adding: "I can no longer stand back and allow this disastrous state of affairs to continue unchallenged."
Scottish Voice NHSFirst is campaigning for the retention of Monklands A&E which lies in the constituency of Home Secretary John Reid. Dr Watt said: "The truth is that at Monklands and at other NHS hospitals throughout the country there is simply not enough capacity.
"Patients are waiting too long for beds and this causes overcrowding in departments such as the A&E.
"The problem is that while people coming into A&E might be seen before the four-hour waiting time target, some will require further treatment. Then they are often left waiting in corridors for between 12 and 18 hours because there are no beds available on the wards."
Dr Watt said patients were dying, particularly from pulmonary embolisms or blood clots because staff did not have the time, or sometimes the drugs, to prevent it. He said the rise of MRSA and other hospital infections was a direct consequence of badly-run regimes.
"The fact is that unless you are young, fit and relatively healthy, NHS hospitals are not places in which you want to end up. But unless there is a radical change in the way they are run things can only get worse." He also claimed he knew a number of cases of junior doctors who had committed suicide, either through stress or frustration about their prospects.
"I know one case of someone who walked in front of a train," he said. He blamed top-heavy management for failing to address the needs of frontline clinical staff and patients.
When more resources are needed, Dr Watt added that staff are often told to make a "business case" for it and even then the offer is sometimes of poor, second-hand equipment from elsewhere.
"I have been trained as a doctor, not a businessman, and I don't see why I should be expected to behave as one."
Mev Brown, leader of NHSFirst who is standing for election in Airdrie and Shotts, as well as the Central Scotland regional list, said: "Martin Watt's story speaks volumes about the failure of our ruling politicians."
SNP candidate Ms Coyle said: "This is a shocking indictment of how our NHS staff have been ignored under Labour and the LibDems from a senior clinician."
