Our health and social care services have taken the decision to prioritise urgent care for the most vulnerable people to ensure patient safety as sustained pressure across both hospitals and community continues.
We are working with North and South Lanarkshire Councils and both health and social care partnerships to urgently address a number of critical issues to alleviate the sustained pressure.
These pressures are because of:
- the need to recover and maintain health and social care services;
- an increase in hospital admissions including Covid-19 patients;
- a significant increase in complex cases within the system;
- staff shortages including staff having to self-isolate;
- a massive increase in people attending emergency departments.
This is causing disruption to, and increased waiting times for, a large number of community and hospital services.
In particular, Care at Home/Home Support services are being seriously affected by significant increases in demand, particularly in support for people with complex needs.
This means both partnerships must currently focus on continuing to provide the Care at Home/Home Support services to our most vulnerable residents.
As a result, people across Lanarkshire are being asked, where possible, to help with a family member or friend’s care to protect particularly vulnerable service users as well as staff.
Ross McGuffie, chief officer, Health and Social Care North Lanarkshire, said: “This is the most challenging point for staff delivering safe, effective healthcare across the whole of health and social care since the pandemic started.
“Both partnerships are working closely with each other, NHS Lanarkshire and both councils to keep patients and service users as safe as possible.
“We have recruited more than 100 new staff across the North partnership, however, the level of pressure the whole health and social care system is under means that we’re still facing major challenges in how we deliver services.
“Care at Home/Home Support have worked tirelessly through the pandemic, however, staffing constraints and increasing demand means we must ensure services are delivered in as safe a way as possible for the service users and our staff.”
Marianne Hayward, interim chief officer, South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “The pressures being experienced across the whole health and social care system are exceptional.
“The current circumstances have forced us to move to critical service delivery across all areas. This means we are prioritising our services for the most vulnerable.
“This will result in discussions with service users and their families/carers about reductions in care packages where it is safe to do so and identifying support so that the most vulnerable people continue to receive critical services.
“We understand people are tired and frustrated as the pandemic continues to disrupt staffing levels and the way services are delivered. Their understanding and support for our staff has been very much welcomed and we thank them for their compassion and help.
Judith Park, director of acute services, said: “The sustained pressure we are seeing across our three acute hospitals is showing no signs of easing. In fact, the pressures on our hospitals are as severe as at any time in the whole pandemic.
“Pressures on our staff, and those in our two partnerships, is also a concern and they are struggling to cope with the sharp rise in demand.”
