NHS walk-in clinic closed again due to staffing pressures
THE NEW walk-in clinic at Grantfield will be closed again today (Saturday) because of “short-term staffing pressures”.
NHS Shetland said the service would re-open on Sunday from 9am to 5pm, with the lost slot at 4.30pm.
It is the third successive Saturday in which the clinic has been closed or partially closed.
Concerns have been raised locally about staffing the facility since it was first confirmed earlier this year by first minister John Swinney on a visit to Shetland.
The clinic was opened as part of a 12 month Scottish Government pilot, with just under £1 million of government funding.
Swinney said in February he was confident from discussions with health board managers that it would be fully staffed.
Walk-in clinic a ‘really good opportunity’ to improve healthcare, NHS Shetland says
NHS Shetland’s pharmacy director and interim depute chief officer Tony McDavitt also said then he was confident NHS Shetland would be able to fully staff the walk-in clinic, adding the GP Joy programme would likely be used to provide additional GPs in the area.
However last month a meeting of Shetland’s integrated joint board (IJB) heard from McDavitt about the staffing pressures, which he said were affecting services across the health board.
“Staff availability was recognised from the outset as a challenge for the walk-in clinic pilot,” he said.
“The team is continuing to work to improve staffing generally for services and reduce the likelihood of further changes across services.
“The walk-in clinic remains a pilot. We will continue to review staffing, demand, patient and staff feedback, and the clinic’s effectiveness within wider primary care services.”
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