NHS Fife has reassured the public they have contingency plans to deal with staff shortages after revealing the number of vacant posts for key medical staff has risen.

A report by Dr Gordon Birnie, associate medical director of the acute services division, said the proportion of vacancies in certain specialties has been “challenging to manage”, particularly in emergency medicine, anaesthetics and health care of the elderly.

NHS Fife has come under fire in recent weeks for their level of care in both emergency medicine and care for the elderly.

The Press last month reported the story of blind ex-councillor Graeme Aitken, who was seriously ill and died the day after being dumped on his doorstep in his pyjamas in the middle of the night by a taxi following a trip to the Victoria Hospital.

And it was also heavily criticised after an elderly patient was left for 10 days without food because staff failed to fit a feeding tube, one of the issues identified by Healthcare Improvement Scotland inspectors during an unannounced visit to the Vic in December.

Dr Birnie’s report said that the “number of vacant posts for senior medical staff has increased over recent months” and the contingency plans include existing staff working additional hours, as well as bringing in NHS and agency locums. It said the reasons for the vacancies were “complex” but included : “government initiatives, north and south of the border with the creation of additional consultant posts especially in emergency medicine” ; “creation of new posts in Fife through the capacity plan”; and “posts in Scotland have become less attractive because of the 9:1 contracts and the loss of mnerit awards”.

Asked to explain these points, he told the Press, “There are a number of consultant posts which are difficult to fill in many of the health boards in Scotland and in some cases across the UK.

“Work is underway nationally to understand the reasons for this and to take steps to improve the recruitment to these hard to fill specialties.

“In the meantime, there are a range of measures in place to mitigate the effect of these gaps including locum appointments and redesign of roles.”