Media Release: Inspection report for Forth Valley Royal Hospital, NHS Forth Valley

Inspection Report: Forth Valley Royal Hospital, NHS Forth Valley

Healthcare Improvement Scotland today (Monday 5 December) published its report relating to an unannounced follow-up inspection visit to Forth Valley Royal Hospital, NHS Forth Valley. The inspection took place on 27– 28 September 2022.

Our safe delivery of care inspections of acute hospitals across NHS Scotland aim to take account of the changing risk considerations and sustained service pressures currently across NHS Scotland.

The purpose of the inspection was to follow up on a number of serious concerns identified and escalated during our inspection visits in April 2022, and to assess progress with the improvement actions NHS Forth Valley stated it would undertake in response to the 9 requirements made as a result of the inspection.

Speaking of the report, Donna Maclean, Head of Service, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said:

“At the time of our follow-up inspection, NHS Scotland continued to experience a range of pressures including increased hospital admissions and reduced staff availability.

“We observed Forth Valley Royal Hospital experiencing extreme pressures from increased patient numbers, delayed discharges and high levels of staff absence. This report highlights our concerns on the limited improvement and in some cases a deterioration in safe delivery of care since our April 2022 inspection. This resulted in us formally escalating our concerns to Scottish Government in line with our escalation process.  Many of our concerns were directly related to the safe delivery of care, particularly in the emergency department and admission units where many patients did not appear well cared for.

“We did, however, observe good communication and mutual support within the staff teams in many ward areas. In some ward areas staff appeared well organised with evidence of good team working however, many staff expressed concerns to inspectors related to the standard of care they were able to provide under the current system pressures.

“Our findings have highlighted serious patient safety concerns and have resulted in a further 11 requirements, to support NHS Forth Valley in the safe deliver of care.   These have been added to the outstanding requirements that have not yet been achieved from the April 2022 inspection."

In order to prioritise the requirements from this inspection, an action plan has been developed by NHS Forth Valley.

Scottish Government announced on Wednesday 23 November that it had escalated NHS Forth Valley to Stage 4 of the NHS Scotland Performance Escalation Framework, due to issues of governance, leadership, and culture.

The full inspection report is available to view at:

https://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org/our_work/inspecting_and_regulating_care/nhs_hospitals_and_services/nhs_forth_valley/forth_valley_royal_hospital.aspx

- ENDS -