Union leaders have accused NHS bosses of redeploying staff to give Scottish Government officials the impression that they had a full staffing compliment.
The UK’s largest public sector union Unison accused NHS Fife of “wholly inappropriate deception” after it emerged that backroom medical staff were redeployed as frontline nurses during an inspection.
However, NHS Fife insisted it was “routine practice” for suitably trained and qualified staff to be redeployed to the frontlines and strongly refuted any suggestion that staff were brought in because of the Scottish Government visit.
An NHS Fife spokeswoman said there was sickness in the admissions ward department that day. But she said she was unable to say whether staff had been brought in to cover sickness on other days that week.
The Courier was contacted by a staff nurse at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy who claimed that hospital management ordered around six midwives, operating theatre staff and carers of the elderly to spend several hours away from their regular jobs to give the impression to officials that the under pressure frontline Admissions One ward was running smoothly.
However, she said it caused problems elsewhere with their regular posts left short staffed.
The nurse, who has around 10 years’ experience, said she had decided to go public on the incident which happened in the week beginning February 18, having “pondered” the issue for weeks.
She said: “Don’t get me wrong, the staff were qualified to do the job. And whilst the officials were here, the admissions ward ran like clockwork.
“But that’s what it should be like at all times not just when the Government come in.”
Last week the chief executive of NHS Fife, John Wilson, pledged to keep investing in staff following a growing number of complaints over care at Victoria Hospital.
A meeting between the health board’s senior officials and MSPs and MPs took place a fortnight ago and was dominated by the politicians’ concerns, many coming from unhappy constituents.
However, the nurse said she was yet to see any evidence on the frontlines that things were improving.
David Forbes, Unison Scotland regional organiser for Fife health branch, said: “We understand from members at Victoria Hospital that an incident like this did happen … It is not clear whether this could have directly caused any problem for patient care.
“However, it is wholly inappropriate that such a deception should have been organised in order to make things look better than they are for a visit by Scottish Government officials.”
George Cunningham, director of acute services, said: “NHS Fife absolutely refutes the allegation that staff were asked to lie during a visit from Scottish Government colleagues.
“Where we move staff from one area to another this is done in an open and transparent way. It is good practice to prioritise our deployment of nursing staff to areas of greatest need for patient care.”