Senior NHS officials in Scotland have revealed plans to use emergency measures for basic healthcare . In a paper to Scotland ’s NHS Chief Executives group , the Scottish Association of Medical Officers [ sic ] said that emergency measures that are designed to deal with flu pandemics or mass fire incidents , which involve doctors switching hospitals , could be used to plug gaps when staff numbers run low . The plan to address staffing issues by sharing doctors between hospitals in different areas is designed to avoid disruption to routine patient care and help tackle spending on locums for short term cover . Chairman of the British Medical Association , Dr. Peter Bennie , said the proposal underlines the severity of the problems in recruiting and retaining all grades of doctors in Scotland . He added that it is not a viable substitute to filling vacant positions and that using emergency mutual aid procedures to provide basic services will only ever be an extremely short - term option . Senior NHS managers are planning to share out doctors between hospitals in different areas to help solve a staffing crisis affecting services for patients. His comments were echoed by Jackson Carlow , health spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives .
Senior NHS officials in Scotland have revealed plans to use emergency measures for basic healthcare . In a paper to Scotland ’s NHS Chief Executives group , the Scottish Association of Medical Officers [ sic ] said that emergency measures that are designed to deal with flu pandemics or mass fire incidents , which involve doctors switching hospitals , could be used to plug gaps when staff numbers run low . The plan to address staffing issues by sharing doctors between hospitals in different areas is designed to avoid disruption to routine patient care and help tackle spending on locums for short term cover . Chairman of the British Medical Association , Dr. Peter Bennie , said the proposal underlines the severity of the problems in recruiting and retaining all grades of doctors in Scotland . He added that it is not a viable substitute to filling vacant positions and that using emergency mutual aid procedures to provide basic services will only ever be an extremely short - term option . His comments were echoed by Jackson Carlow , health spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives .