Serious health problems are being missed as a direct result of the GP shortage in Fife, social workers have claimed.
A pair of whistleblowers have contacted The Courier to lift the lid on the shocking situation within the region’s health services.
Both maintain people’s lives are being put at risk by a situation where unqualified reception staff are having to make decisions about patient care.
The social work sources, who asked to remain anonymous as they still work in the sector, came forward following a report in The Courier this month which revealed sick people are regularly queuing outside surgeries in the early hours just to get an appointment.
One of the social workers, who has worked in the field for more than 25 years, said she had “serious concerns” about the shortage of GPs and nurses.
“One of my patients has been trying to get an appointment for a chest infection – a clinical priority – for four days, and has been unable to do so,” she said.
“For four days she has had to ring at 8am, and she has been told she can queue outside the surgery for an appointment.
“Another patient had a chronic pain issue and was also told to queue. She kept being told this for six days in a row, at the Airlie practice.
“Meanwhile Kennoway has such a high staff turnover. Staff training and patient services are very poor. My biggest concern is that vulnerable patients are being triaged by unqualified reception staff.
“They are making decisions about who gets to see a doctor, which means that serious problems could be missed.
“My concerns are mainly about the Kennoway, Tollbar and Airlie practices, but I’m told there are similar problems elsewhere in Fife too.”
Those fears were echoed by the second social worker, who has worked in various places across Scotland for 15 years.
“I’ve never encountered anything as shocking as the GP services in Fife, particularly in Levenmouth,” she said.
“Kennoway, Tollbar and Muiredge are the worst offenders.
“I liaise a lot with occupational therapists, elderly services and district nurses, as the people I help are elderly and need a lot of care.
“They need a lot of GP input, which is lacking at the moment. Elderly, vulnerable patients are being made to queue outside, and are being triaged by reception staff who are not clinically trained.
“I have utmost respect for reception staff, but you cannot have a 17-year-old school leaver triaging patients with a variety of needs.”
In response to the claims, Claire Dobson, divisional general manager for the Fife health and social care partnership, said the shortage of GPs was not just confined to the kingdom.
“In Fife the health and social care partnership has been proactive in supporting practices as they seek to recruit salaried GPs and partners.
“We have increased clinical pharmacy input to practices alongside support from nurse practitioners and community mental health teams.
“These individuals are all highly trained professionals and are more than capable of assessing patients’ needs.”
Dr Sharon Mullan, partner and GP cluster lead for Levenmouth, said practices in Levenmouth are constantly looking at their systems to ensure “appropriate and timely” access for all patients requiring care.
She continued: “Similar to our GP colleagues across the rest of the country, practices in Levenmouth are working under increasing pressure as we care for a population which is living longer, and often doing so with multiple conditions.
“Despite these pressures our practices continue to offer routine appointments on the day, emergency appointments for patients who require them and telephone advice from either a GP or an experienced and highly qualified nurse trained to deal with minor ailments.
“This is in addition to routine appointments booked further in advance. Furthermore, reception staff are trained specifically in assessing whether a patient needs to see a GP or nurse practitioner.”