Rheumatology jobs 'not left vacant to save money' (From This is The West Country)

Rheumatology jobs 'not left vacant to save money'

7:00am Friday 10th July 2009

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CLAIMS that bosses are slow to replace consultants leaving the rheumatology department at Taunton’s Musgrove Park Hospital have been denied.

The allegation by Mark Formosa, who is standing for the Conservatives at the General Election in Taunton, came after patient Paul Norton, 63, complained of delays in treatment.

Mr Formosa said: “As I understand it, the rheumatology department has at times been down to just one consultant and the hospital has even had to call in retired medical staff to help it cope.

“To run efficiently, I’m told they need a minimum three consultants, preferably four.

“It seems that as senior staff leave, the hospital is slow to recruit replacements, which may partly be a device to make budgets meet at the expense of patients.”

Mr Formosa added it was causing “grave concern”, although he appreciated there is a national shortage of rheumatology consultants.

A Musgrove spokesman “strongly refutes” the suggestion that posts are kept vacant for financial reasons.

He added: “While there have been delays in the rheumatology service at Musgrove in the last few months, we’re confident the situation is now being resolved.

“There’s a national shortage of suitably-qualified staff - earlier in 2009, there were times when there was only one full-time consultant available and the department was also in need of a registrar.

“This inevitably caused a backlog of follow-up appointments.”

There are now two rheumatologists, a registrar and two clinical nurse specialists working full-time in the unit.

New patients referred by GPs will be seen within seven weeks, with emergencies seen sooner.

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