Up to 300 hospital consultants are to call for urgent improvements to the management of NHS Grampian amid an unprecedented threat to frontline care.
The senior medics are due to gather at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for the first meeting of its kind in the city in more than 20 years.
Unrest has grown because of staff shortages in accident and emergency and an “over reliance” on expensive locum staff to plug gaps.
Middle-grade staff being drafted-in to casualty from other departments has also caused concern.
A&E consultants are understood to be at “breaking point” – and the country’s acting chief medical officer and the chief executive of NHS Scotland are to arrive in Aberdeen today for crisis talks with clinicians.
Meanwhile, senior medical figures at the hospital have invited 300 consultants to a mass meeting on Tuesday to demand action.
Dr Izhar Khan, chairman of the area medical committee which advises the NHS Grampian board, said urgent changes had to be made.
He and three other consultants who chair advisory committees at the board have called the meeting.
Dr Khan said: “We are expressing our concerns about the board’s inability to adequately address the issues. We need to make sure that acute medicine is safe and well staffed.
“Our colleagues in the emergency department are working under huge strain.
“It is very important that our services must not be dependant on ad-hoc staffing arrangements. We really feel that the board and the Scottish Government must act to solve these problems.”
Dr Khan played down claims that the meeting had been called to raise a “vote of no confidence” against management.
The meeting follows reports that NHS Grampian spent £5,000 flying a consultant from India to cover two weekend shifts at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary at the start of August.
Richard Carey, chief executive of NHS Grampian, and new medical director Dr Nick Fluck held discussions with about 30 consultants on Wednesday.
Dr Fluck is due to present a new model of emergency care to the NHS Grampian board when it meets today.
Dr Simon Barker, deputy chairman of the British Medical Association’s Scottish Consultants Committee, and a consultant in Aberdeen, said last night: “Services need to be safe and must not be dependent on short-term, ad-hoc plans that put further pressure on already overstretched staff.
“The board and Scottish Government must work together effectively and immediately with clinicians to resolve the issues that are threatening services in Aberdeen.”
Outgoing medical director Dr Roelf Dijkhuizen told MSPs at Holyrood this week that NHS Grampian had lost out on about £1billion in funding over the past 10 years.
North-east Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald said the challenges faced by NHS Grampian managers had to be recognised.
He said: “The bottom line is resources, and NHS Grampian can only do so much with a budget that is £30million short this year, by the government’s own figures.
“What we are seeing now is an accumulation of many years of underfunding. It is having an impact on morale of staff and it is affecting the ability of the management to do their job.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said ministers were aware of Grampian’s ongoing discussions with its consultants.
She added that a Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) review of the care at ARI,
prompted by concerns raised by staff, would examine relationships between senior management and clinicians.
The spokeswoman said: “This independent review must be allowed to complete and we expect its recommendations will be published in the near future.
“We’re committed to ensuring these are taken forward as quickly as possible.
“This government has protected NHS Grampian’s frontline budget, which has been increased by over £229.2million under this government. The board has consistently received percentage increases above the national average.
“In 2015-16, NHS Grampian’s resource budget is planned to increase by 4.4% to £812.6million, again above inflation and the largest increase of any health board in Scotland.”