Significant staffing changes are being implemented at Perth Royal Infirmary after nursing staff raised concerns over patient safety and care, The Courier can reveal.
The measures will be brought into place following a meeting between senior nursing management and ward staff at the hospital.
A series of issues were raised by those involved in direct patient care, with some claiming that understaffing has compromised the service they provide.
Nursing staff nonetheless felt moved to write an emotive open letter, which was sent to NHS Tayside chairman Gerry Marr, the Royal College of Nursing and local councillors.
The anonymous group claimed that at night there could be just two trained nurses caring for up to 30 patients and that such conditions left them “exhausted, disillusioned, stressed and worried” that something has been missed.
Measures are now being undertaken to provide further nursing support to wards at the hospital overnight.
The letter goes on to claim that “many highly qualified, experienced nurses have left or are planning to leave NHS Tayside.
It also criticises managers for failing to protect and support staff in the face of daily verbal and physical assaults and warns of both plummeting morale and the dangers of leaving matters as they are.
“Patient care and safety is constantly being compromised due to lack of nursing staff, both trained and untrained,” the letter reads.
A spokeswoman for NHS Tayside said the terms of the letter were disappointing and expressed puzzlement that few of the claims had been raised with senior managers. She also entirely rejected claims that the operation of the PRI intensive care unit had been disrupted by staffing issues.
However, she did confirm that meetings had been held between staff and managers, and that changes had arisen from those.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Courier.