SHOCK new figures have revealed NHS Grampian is facing a consultants crisis – and 19 key posts have been vacant for more than six months.
Health boards across the country are struggling to find the expert staff they need, but the north-east region accounts for 40% of the nation’s missing specialists. The majority of posts left unfilled for half a year or more are in vital areas such as oncology, general acute medicine, ophthalmology and oral surgery.
Last night the Scottish Conservatives’ health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said “alarm bells” should be “going off” and demanded an explanation from the Scottish Government.
NHS Grampian insisted it was working “extremely hard” to recruit locally, nationally – and even internationally if required. Across Scotland, there should be 4,823 consultants in post, but there are currently only 4,605 full-time equivalents.
The vacancy rate of about 4.5% is considerably higher than the 3.2% recorded in December 2012.
