Health board denies cleaning 'cuts' create risk

A HEALTH board rejected claims by Labour yesterday that "cuts" to cleaning jobs are putting patients' health at risk.

Greater Glasgow and Clyde was among four NHS boards which recorded a drop in posts over the past year.

But the body insisted the temporary measure was a "tactical" decision to hold jobs open as part of a shake-up and that outside agency staff filled the gaps.Labour obtained figures under freedom of information legislation showing reductions of 65 posts at Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 20 at Dumfries and Galloway, nine at Fife and eight at Forth Valley.

Last year, health secretary Nicola Sturgeon pledged to recruit an extra 600 cleaners across the country.

Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said "there is no doubt" that cuts lead to patients getting ill.

Her warning comes days after official figures showed a longer-term increase of about 1,000 posts under the SNP and a reduction in deaths from Clostridium difficile and MRSA.

Ms Baillie said: "The SNP government is forcing health boards across Scotland to make savings in frontline services, but hospital cleaning must be protected if we are to stand a chance of beating superbugs like C difficile and MRSA."

An NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde statement said: "It is completely untrue and misleading to suggest that NHS GGC has decreased its domestic cleaning operations across its hospitals."