The people of the Borders are being warned that pressures on services this coming winter will be every bit as challenging as last year.  

Attendees at the board’s annual review meeting last week heard that the Borders General Hospital has been operating at full capacity throughout the year – and on that day had started the morning with a ‘negative bed balance’.

The meeting in Galashiels was told financial and workforce challenges mean there is no end in sight to the ‘extreme pressures’ facing Scotland’s most rural mainland board.

NHS Borders reported an opening deficit of £23.6m in March which officials say – despite their best efforts – will not be eliminated in the next three years.

Chair of NHS Borders, Karen Hamilton, told attendees that the board is working to address the critical situation:

“This has impacted on the quality of the levels of service that we've been able to provide via admission to hospital on an emergency or a planned basis, and on the associated need for care at home.

“Of course, we've been working to address the situation and recognise that over the next six months, we will see a further surge in the activity and hospital occupancy and associated levels of referrals to social care.”

Health board chiefs raised the alarm over the ‘extreme pressures’ facing the hospital as recently as July, as it pleaded for local residents to use healthcare services “wisely”.

A shortage of GPs, with a one in ten vacancy rate across the board area, is said by officials to be compounding the challenges.

The annual review also shows that last year 63 patients were waiting over three days after being ready to be discharged from hospital into care, with more than 23,000 bed days lost to delays.

The Scottish government has already stepped into support the board with its financial sustainability, which sits alongside NHS Highland and NHS Ayrshire & Arran at a level 3 escalation with a support plan in place.

Borders Chief Executive Ralph Roberts told last week’s annual review that it’s time for an honest conversation about what the future of healthcare will look like in the board:

“We need to really recognise the fact that we've got a huge demographic issue coming down the line in terms of the ageing population. We are going to have a shrinking working age population in the Borders and, therefore, we are going to have to change our services.

“That is going to require us, first and foremost, to focus on prevention, and early prevention of disease. And secondly, looking at different ways of providing services. And I think one of the things within that that we will need to look at in the Borders is how can we provide more services in the community.”

Read more: NHS leader: NCS threatens smaller boards; NHS Borders reports financial progress;

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