Could Orkney’s health services be facing an even more challenging winter than those seen during the pandemic?
According to the county’s chief of health and care, Stephen Brown, it looks likely.
The full range of challenges faced by health services in Orkney this winter was laid out by Mr Brown and others at a meeting of the local health board this morning.
Mr Brown presented a draft of the winter plan to the isles NHS board.
He began his presentation by apologising for sounding like “a harbinger for doom and gloom.”
However, he said the county is simply facing many of the same challenges seen by health boards across the country.
Flu, Covid, Strep A and a fragile workforce among challenges
They are expecting to see an increase in flu compared to previous years and the county has already seen colder temperatures than usual.
On top of this, he said Covid is still with us. The virus’s full impact over the coming months is yet to be seen, he said.
Mr Brown highlighted “the fragility” of the health board’s workforce. He said there are gaps in the workforce that have been left empty for some time.
This means continued reliance on agency and locum staffwho, at this time of year, are likely to take two weeks off to enjoy Christmas with their families.
In general, he said NHS Orkney is “competing with all other boards in relation to quite a small pool of staff.”
Mr Brown continued: “You add to this the cost of living crisis. The impact of that is likely to have an adverse effect on people’s mental and physical health
“There will be a resulting increase in demand for our services over the period.
“Just to layer it on, we’re in the process of planning for potential planned power outages in the new year over January and February time.
“Whether that comes to fruition or not that doesn’t matter – all local authorities have been asked to plan for those.”
Mr Brown also pointed out that Orkney’s neighbours to the north, in Shetland, have seen unplanned power cuts recently.
NHS Orkney competing with other health boards for agency staff this winter
He added: “All of that is in the mix as we move into winter. Arguably this could be a more difficult winter for us than we’ve seen for a number of years. I include within that the pandemic years.”
The winter plan being presented to the board aims to reassure the board that each of these challenges is met.
However, it was noted that, as the plan still has to go to the Scottish Government for approval, this is quite a late point to be viewing the draft.
Mary Moore is the health board’s interim director of nursing, midwifery, and allied health professions.
She said winter is here and staff is already working by the plan on a day-to-day basis.
She also said the health board can add concerns about Strep A to the list of challenges.
“Winter is here. We are also anticipating an increase in the attendance of children because of the press coverage of Strep A.
“We have a lot of worried parents who may turn up with their children.
“We’re working to capacity in terms of our inpatient wards. We often have 20-plus patients with patients waiting to come in.
“While this plan is draft, we are working to it on a day-to-day basis.”
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