Health chiefs have vowed to maintain services for Parkinson’s sufferers in Moray as they admitted recent disruptions have caused patients unnecessary anguish.
A group of campaigners from Elgin descended on the NHS Grampian annual board meeting yesterday to raise concerns about a lack of specialist care.
Services were thrown into crisis when the region’s only specialist nurse quit shortly after one consultant took a year off and another retired.
Patients and families said they were kept in the dark about what was being done to deal with the shortage at Dr Gray’s Hospital.
It took three weeks to bring in a locum doctor, sparking concerns over the fate of the 200 people in Moray with the neurological condition
NHS Grampian chief executive Malcolm Wright accepted that the issue had been badly handled.
“Could we have got this better? Yes we definitely could,” he told them.
“Could some of the anxiety and concern that this has caused have been avoided? Yes I think it could.
“We need to learn from all of this.”
The dedicated Parkinson’s consultant was replaced with a locum working more hours – on a three-month contract to be extended to a year.
Another doctor who dealt with cases because he happened to have specialist knowledge is yet to be replaced, director of acute services Gary Mortimer said.
And a replacement nurse will be recruited “as soon as we possibly can”.
Tanith Muller, of Parkinson’s UK, said she hoped the promises to recruit replacements would be met.
But she warned the same problems could hit other areas as specialists in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire were approaching retirement.
Mr Wright said the case had exposed the need for different parts of the Grampian NHS area to co-operate more closely.
It has already led to talks between Dr Gray’s – which was “an essential component” of provision – and the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, he said.
“If when one person leaves for whatever reason then things move into a perceived crisis mode then that is not a good place to be,” he said.
“As well as getting these places recruited to we need to look at how we work better across the region to get that sustainability.
“There is a real opportunity for ARI and Gray’s and Moray to work much more closely together.”