"Transferred to receive IV antibiotics"

I want to express my concern regarding my dad who is an inpatient in Kirklandside Hospital, having to be transferred to Crosshouse Hospital after developing aspiration pneumonia.

My dad has been settled in the ward for a couple of weeks and because of the lack of staff being trained in IV training, he has had to be transferred to Crosshouse Hospital to receive IV antibiotics.

I believe the nursing staff are willing to undertake the IV training and IV exam but they cannot attend because of staff shortages and are therefore unable to undertake the training. I understand that some staff in the past have attended on annual leave or days off and I can see that staff are frustrated as they can also see how distressing this is for patients.

This is unacceptable practice. Where is the person centred care? Where does patient safety come in? Where is care given in the right place at the right time and in the right way? Is this delivering care which is safe and reliable?

How much better for my dad if he could be kept in the place where he knows the staff, knows the surroundings and also the unnecessary moving him out into the cold weather and transferred to an ambulance when he could be kept in warm, safe surroundings and be treated by competent staff that would have the benefit of this training.

Also how much cost applied to ambulance attendance and also ambulance delays elsewhere for other priority patients? I’m sure a more cost effective option would be to have these nursing staff trained on their days off if necessary, but that these staff would be paid for attending on their days off which would in the long term be beneficial to both patients and staff.

I await a response with a plan of how this training will be implemented for staff within Kirklandside Hospital in order to provide safe, effective and person centred care for the people of NHS Ayrshire and Arran.