NHS Forth Valley: Work underway to improve health services across the area

The health board was escalated to level four of the NHS Scotland Performance Framework in November last year amid concerns about long waiting times in A&E and GP out of hours services in particular and a failure to make safety improvements at Forth Valley Royal following criticism by inspectors. At the time chairperson Janie McCusker said: “This is a significant and serious level of escalation and, as a board, we are committed to doing everything possible to make the changes and improvements required.”

When the move was discussed in Holyrood, MSPs spoke of staff being “bullied, broken and burnt out”, while there was talk of an “unsafe, toxic, war zone” in Forth Valley Royal Hospital and an “irretrievable breakdown in relations between staff and leaders”.

Health Minister Humza Yousaf announced an assurance board chaired by Christine McLaughlin, the Scottish Government’s chair of population health, would be set up to give the Scottish Government direct oversight of how NHS Forth Valley was being run.

At a meeting of the health board last week, members heard of the work that was already underway to bring about improvements. This included officials from NHS Forth Valley speaking to their opposite numbers at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde which was placed in special measures in November 2019, and NHS Highland which was escalated to the level four in 2018.

The report said this was “to enable sharing of experiences and best practice and to learn what other NHS Boards have done to improve leadership, culture and governance following escalation”.

Days after the board was placed into special measures the latest Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) report into the running of Forth Valley Royal was published and raised concerns over the “safe delivery of care” at the Larbert hospital.

The report was based on an unannounced visit by inspectors in September and was a follow up to a previous visit in April. However, it noted "limited improvement and in some cases a deterioration" in safe delivery of care at the hospital since the earlier visit.

Health chiefs have now revealed they are working with HIS to bring in improvements, including introducing “care and comfort rounds” for patients waiting in the emergency department and assessments units, as well as new triage arrangements to help reduce overcrowding. They are also working to reduce the use of additional contingency beds which have been put in place to manage increased admissions.

Cathie Cowan, NHS Forth Valley chief executive, said: “Good progress has been made over the last two months across a number of areas. There have also been improvements in performance across a number of services however we recognise that there is still much more to do, and we remain committed to making the changes necessary to improve the experience of our patients and staff.

"I would like to thank staff, colleagues in primary care and partners for their ongoing commitment to delivering high quality care and services, despite the many challenges facing our health and care system.”