Ward at Pitlochry Community Hospital will reopen to patients following nurse recruitment surge

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The GP inpatient ward at Pitlochry Community Hospital will reopen to patients this month following a surge in nurse recruitment.

Four inpatient beds at the GP Unit will reopen from Monday, June 20 following the ward’s temporary closure earlier this year.Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) made the decision to temporarily close the inpatient ward from early January due to long-standing staffing and recruitment difficulties in the more rural areas of Highland Perthshire.

This, alongside the impact of the COVID-19 response on the availability of clinical staff across the whole health and social care system, had resulted in critical staffing issues at the hospital.A successful recruitment campaign has resulted in six nurses being appointed to both full-time and part-time posts in the ward.Staff who were redeployed to other hospitals and care services during the temporary closure of the GP inpatient ward will also return to Pitlochry Community Hospital to welcome patients back.

Chief officer for Perth and Kinross HSCP Jacquie Pepper said: “We are delighted to see the GP inpatient ward at Pitlochry Community Hospital reopening. “Patient safety is always our priority and the difficult decision to temporarily close the ward was needed as we were unable to staff the ward with the number of nurses to ensure the safe delivery of patient care.“Thanks to the hard work of our teams, we have now been able to recruit nurses to vacancies in the ward and patients will be welcomed back on a phased basis.“Four inpatient beds will be open this month, with the remaining five beds due to open in the autumn.“All of the staff at Pitlochry Community Hospital are incredibly dedicated to patient care and I would like to