Staff from North and South Lanarkshire councils have stepped in to help NHS Lanarkshire at the area’s three hospitals.
As pressures across the acute sites continues as a result of winter pressures, continued cases of the Omicron variant and workforce shortages caused by staff absences, NHS Lanarkshire is turning to council colleagues to help manage current workload over the next month.
A number of staff from the councils, third-sector partners and volunteers are also supporting COVID-19 testing and vaccination as well as providing Health and Social Care support.
Chief executive Heather Knox told Lanarkshire Live : “Our services across the whole system are experiencing more pressure that at any other point and the present demand on our hospitals is exceptional.
“The Omicron variant continues to have a negative impact on many of our health services and we continue to face staffing challenges across health services.
“We are delighted to welcome the support of council colleagues over the next month to help ensure our services can deliver effective patient care.
“We really appreciate their assistance as this time and I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our staff for their continuing hard work and dedication over this particularly busy time.”
Ten staff from SLC have completed training and have already started supporting on the wards at Wishaw General and Hairmyres Hospital.
A further 12 staff from NLC will be deployed in Monklands and Wishaw hospitals next week.
Des Murray, chief executive of NLC, told us : “It’s clear that COVID-19 has placed enormous pressure on some of our most crucial services such as health and social care, as well as acute services at NHS Lanarkshire, which is enhancing its patient capacity at hospitals.
“Our staff have shown remarkable resilience throughout the pandemic to support other council services when needed and that willingness has already been extended to our partners over the last 18 months with many working to support the delivery of the vaccination programme.
“The proven success of that combined effort continues as a remarkable cohort of staff in facility support roles will assist in acute settings at NHS Lanarkshire sites.”
SLC chief executive Cleland Sneddon added: “One positive aspect of COVID-19 has been the way public sector organisations have worked together to strengthen the collective effort against the pandemic.
“There are numerous examples of this, as indeed there are of community groups and volunteers stepping up to play their part too.”
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