Health Minister Humza Yousaf will finally visit Paisley’s buckling Royal Alexandra Hospital.
The Scottish Government health supremo looks set to meet with staff leaders when he visits the Corsebar Road site on Friday.
Mr Yousaf pledged to attend at the crisis-hit hospital in October after he was pressed in parliament by Paisley-based MSP Neil Bibby.
He will be at the site on Friday, when he is expected to speak with staff and union leaders who have hit out over the ongoing situation at the RAH.
Margaret Duffy and Barbara Steel warned in October that there were “chronic” staff shortages at the hospital.
Don't miss the latest headlines from around Renfrewshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
They repeated their warnings in December after we told how a single nurse, qualified for just one year, had been left in sole charge of 24 patients being treated in a specialist gastro ward on a weekend night shift.
The Unison stewards warned staffing was “dire” and told how hard-pressed workers at the site were “on their knees” trying to cope amid the ongoing toll the covid pandemic has taken on the NHS and rising staff sickness levels.
They said patients were being crammed into the hospital beyond what available staffing levels could cope with and branded the situation “an absolute scandal”.
A catalogue of failings have taken place at the RAH, reflecting the pressures on staff at the struggling site.
We told last October how Paisley gran Jeanette Carden had experienced “third world” conditions when she was an in-patient.
She was left as the lone female patient in a ward with five men and contracted e-coli during her hospital stay after being kept waiting in the back of an ambulance for more than eight hours before she was admitted.
Figures obtained by Scottish Labour also revealed the RAH had wracked up the longest ambulance turnaround time in Scotland, between October and January.
A crew were kept waiting for almost 11 hours at the RAH waiting to hand over a patient.
Labour politician Mr Bibby secured a Holyrood commitment from Mr Yousaf that he would meet with concerned staff leaders and visit the hospital.
But he further pressed the SNP Minister in January when he had not yet attended as the RAH returned a series of dismal Accident and Emergency performance figures.
However, Mr Yousaf is now expected to attend on Friday to talk with union reps.
The news has been welcomed by West Scotland representative Mr Bibby, who said: “I called on the Health Secretary to visit the RAH back in November, and I welcome the news that he will now do so.
“Patients and staff have many concerns that the Health Secretary needs to hear- from the £70m repairs backlog to falling bed numbers and from staffing levels to car parking.”
He added: “The RAH has become a forgotten hospital and urgently needs resources and investment.
“I am glad the Health Secretary is coming to listen, but the real test will be in what he does, not what he says. Many local patients and staff are frankly fed up of hearing promises from the Scottish Government that remain undelivered.”
Download the FREE Renfrewshire Live app now for all the latest news, features and sport in your area. Available on both Android and Apple. D ownload here: smarturl.it/RenfrewLiveSocial
