Tag Archive for NHS Tayside

Dundee MSPs Comment on Ninewells Health Inspection Report

February 28, 2013 Joe FitzPatrick MSP, Shona Robison MSP No comments

Dundee’s MSPs commented on the publication by Healthcare Improvement Scotland of documents relating to and inspection visit to Ninewells, following the intevention of Scotland’s Health Secretary Alex Neil who called last week for them to be published.

Dundee City West MSP Joe FitzPatrick said: “Ninewells is a good quality teaching hospital with very hard working staff and it is important that local people continue to have confidence in it.

“That is why it was right that these reports were published today so that people can see for themselves why clinicians and NHS Tayside felt so strongly that the draft inspection report from Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) was not accurate in a number of key areas.

“It is crucial that people within Tayside are given accurate information about their local hospital and that the independent inspectorate quite rightly highlights where there is room for improvement but it must do so in a proper and accurate manner.

“Clearly the process in this case fell well short of that standard and that must be addressed by HIS. “

Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee City East, said: “It is important that today everyone is able to see why NHS Tayside had such strong concerns about the inspections report into older peoples services at Ninewells hospital.

“The letter from senior clinicians and the error report contain a number of critical corrections to the original Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) report. These concerns were not well handled by HIS and they must learn lessons and now they must make the necessary changes to their inspection processes.

“Independent inspections are a very important part of the public reassurance process so that patients and their families can have confidence that the services they receive in our NHS are being monitored properly.

“It is therefore important that HIS act now to ensure that process is reliable and robust in every inspection they carry out.”

CITY MSPS RESPOND TO NHS BRIEFING ON OLDER PATIENT CARE AT NINEWELLS

February 1, 2013 Joe FitzPatrick MSP, Shona Robison MSP No comments

Both Dundee’s constituency MSPs Joe FitzPatrick and Shona Robison attended a briefing, on the Care of Older People In An Acute Setting, at Ninewells Hospital today at the invitation of NHS Tayside Chief Executive Gerry Marr.

Following the briefing by senior staff, the two MSPs said that they had been reassured that improvements in patient care for older people at Ninewells have either been completed or are underway.

Dundee City East MSP Shona  Robison said: “The briefing by NHS Tayside today gave MSPs an opportunity to be fully informed about issues raised in the recent inspection report, but more importantly the action taken by NHS Tayside to improve patient care for older people at Ninewells.

“The staff in the hospital work very hard to provide a good and caring environment for their patients and they should be supported in doing so.
“We are now reassured that all improvements highlighted have either been completed or are underway.”

Joe FitzPatrick, MSP for Dundee City West, added: “It is very important that older patients are confident that they will continue to receive the highest quality care at Ninewells and the improvements we heard about today should help reassure them in that regard.

“We had a very informative visit to the Acute Medical Assessment Unit to see for ourselves the good quality of patient care being carried out there.”

 

MSP Outraged Over PFI Car Park Hike

October 8, 2012 Joe FitzPatrick MSP No comments

Dundee City West MSP Joe FitzPatrick has expressed outrage over the decision by car park operator Vinci Park to further increase charges at Ninewells.

Joe FitzPatrick said “The parking costs at Ninewells are already at an unacceptable level. Parking charges are a tax on  ill-health which is born by patients, their visitors and relatives and health staff.

“With the Scottish government having removed hospital car park charges across Scotland, except where our hand are tied with long-term PFI deals,  I would have thought a socially-responsible company would have held off from introducing any increases.

“These increases are the direct responsibility of the Labour administration which signed these PFI deals.

“I have today written to Vinci Park demanding detailed reasons why they feel they need to increase charges again. I want them to enter into meaningful discussions with NHS Tayside to reduce this burden on staff, patients and visitors to Ninewells, particularly to members of staff who have permits or annual passes.”

LABOUR HEALTH SPOKESPERSON AGAIN REFUSES TO APOLOGISE TO NHS TAYSIDE STAFF FOR SMEAR

May 18, 2012 Joe FitzPatrick MSP No comments

Labour Health Spokesperson Jackie Baillie has again refused to apologise to NHS workers in NHS Tayside after she wrongly accused them of being involved in a waiting list “scandal”.

In the debating chamber this morning, SNP MSP Joe FitzPatrick challenged her to retract her remarks – and remove the claims from her website – but she refused to back down.

Ms Baillie continues to keep comments about NHS Tayside being “dragged into the scandal” on her website despite receiving a letter from NHS Tayside chairman Sandy Watson explaining why her claims were false.

In the letter, Mr Watson said: “I would like to underline the fact that NHS Tayside is very open about waiting times activity, publishing a report every three months and discussing this in public at the Tayside NHS Board meeting.”

Mr FitzPatrick, SNP MSP for Dundee City West, said:

“It is completely disrespectful to the hard-working staff of NHS Tayside to accuse them of being embroiled in a waiting list “scandal” – when this is simply not true.

“In fact Ms Baillie continues to plaster these lies on her website after receiving a letter from NHS Tayside’s chairman pointing out where she got the figures wrong.

“This is yet another blunder from Ms Baillie who jumped to the wrong conclusions, hasn’t apologised and continues to leave her comments online.

“Instead of issuing negative and misleading remarks, Ms Baillie and the rest of the Labour Party should be praising the progress made by Scotland’s NHS workforce in their commitment to reducing waiting times.

“Up to 35,000 patients were left to languish on hidden waiting lists when Labour was in government – until the SNP abolished them.

“Our NHS staff work tirelessly and the healthcare associated infection figures published this week reflect this hard work.

“If Jackie Baillie refuses to retract her false claims and apologise, we can only assume that she thinks she has done nothing wrong.”

MSP Welcomes ‘Positive Step Forward’ on Ardler GP Services

August 26, 2011 Joe FitzPatrick MSP No comments

Dundee City West MSP Joe FitzPatrick today welcomed the anouncement by Tayside Health Board of the setting up of a new Ardler health service, which will be situated in a different facility within the area with the daily presence of a GP from a neighbouring community in residence to see patients.
The announcement follows a meeting by the NHS Board when proposals worked out by the primary care team and Community Health Planning Partnership were discussed with the MSP and local Council representatives.
Joe FitzPatrick said: “I welcome this positive step forward for Ardler. At our recent meeting with the health team we heard their proposals to improve the position for patients in Ardler following the termination of Dr Miller’s contract and I’m glad they have been approved.
“What is planned for the area will see the linking of GP services with other services for the community in Ardler.
“The most important thing now is to ensure that all local people register with a new GP and we can plan for better services to be delivered in Ardler. At the moment, nearly half of the former patients have still to register.”
Dr Michelle Watts, NHS Tayside associate medical director for primary care, said: “The next step for us is to work with the community and local councillors to ensure we build up the range of health services which the community needs.
“We appreciate that this has been a difficult and unsettling time for people but we are now going to concentrate all our efforts on providing a much wider range of health services, including the presence of a GP and practice nurse working in Ardler, who will be linked up with nearby surgeries.
“As we embark on this partnership with the local community to develop new services we would still encourage patients who were previously registered with the Ardler Surgery to ensure they get registered at another practice as soon as they can.”
NHS Tayside terminated Dr Miller’s contract after the level of service provided was found not to be meeting agreed standards as the GP practice had not met “all the conditions and delivered the level of service” which it was required to do. The GMC and other bodies are to conduct formal investigations into the matter.
Just over half of Dr Miller’s 1700 former patients have registered with a temporary practice. The GP practice at Wallacetown Health Centre, which was set up solely for patients who had been registered at Ardler, remains open for the time-being.

MSP Calls Meeting on Future of Ardler Services

August 16, 2011 Council Group, Joe FitzPatrick MSP No comments

Joe FitzPatrick and Cllr Stewart Hunter turn up for the meeting to discuss the future of Ardler services

The future shape of GP services in the Ardler community were discussed at a meeting today in NHS Tayside offices at King’s Cross. Local MSP Joe FitzPatrick who asked for the meeting invited all other representatives of the area to attend.

Joe FitzPatrick said: ‘I was pleased that Dr Watts and members of the CHP took the time today to outline the work they have been doing to ensure that in the medium-to-long term, high-quality services will be delivered locally in Ardler.

“I felt it was important to get all the local representives of the area around the table at one meeting to discuss progress and to prevent further misinformation about the termination of Dr Miller’s practice and the future of services in Ardler.”

Councillor Stewart Hunter, SNP Councillor for Strathmartine, who also attended the meeting at the Community Health Partnership offices at King’s Cross, said: “I was pleased to hear of the steps already being taken by the Primary Care Team to move forward the provision of high-quality GP services for the Ardler area.

“The most important thing now is to ensure that all local people register with a new GP so that we can plan for better services to be delivered in Ardler.

“Although the various proposals which we heard today have not yet been approved by the NHS Board, which meets on 26th August, I am sure they will result in a better GP service in Ardler in the medium to longterm.”

MSPs to Meet With NHS Tayside Over Poor HEI Inspection Results at Ninewells

June 14, 2011 Joe FitzPatrick MSP, Shona Robison MSP No comments

Dundee City East MSP Shona Robison today expressed disappointment over the results of an unannounced inspection at Ninewells which outlined a number of areas where improvements are required.

The MSP was responding to publication by Healthcare Improvement Scotland of its report from unannounced visits to Ninewells on 25th and 26 April.

The report found that wards and clinical areas were clean and that NHS Tayside was working towards new and more rigorous health standards, however the inspection uncovered some areas where improvements were required.

Commenting on the report, Shona Robison said: “I am disappointed at the results of this unannounced inspection which was conducted in April.

“There were eleven recommendations for improvement and nine of these were previously identified in an inspection in November 2010 which is particularly disappointing.

“We have now set-up a face to face meeting with Gerry Marr to seek assurances that these recommendations will be followed through and that NHS Tayside is committing the resources to address the areas of improvement which this HIS report identifies.

“It is important that we can provide assurance on the cleanliness of hospitals and that we are doing all we can to tackle hospital associated infections and the best way of doing that is by meeting all the requirements of unannounced inspections.”

Joe FitzPatrick, Dundee City West MSP, who had a meeting with the Chief Executive and the Chairman of NHS Tayside last week over the specific failings of the Mrs V case in 2008, said he would also attend a meeting on the inspection report’s failings.

He said: “I’m aware that this report was compiled after visits several months ago and that steps have already been taken to ensure improvements but I want to get more detail on this.

“It is particularly disappointing that in areas where recommendations were made after a previous inspection visit they have again failed to meet the standards.

“That is where I want to focus some specific questions. You could understand if there were failings in new areas but to have recurring problems is even more concerning.”

MSP’s NHS Meeting on Lessons of ‘Mrs V’ Case

June 1, 2011 Joe FitzPatrick MSP No comments

Dundee City West MSP Joe FitzPatrick today [Tuesday] met with NHS Tayside Chief Executive Gerry Marr and Board Chairman Sandy Watson to seek assurances that problems identified in the case of ‘Mrs V’ have been rectified and that lessons have been learned from the Mental Welfare Commission report on the 2008 case.

Joe FitzPatrick said: “The circumstances of this case should never have occurred. Systems should have been in place to identify the failings of care which led to the death of Mrs V. It was an appalling catalogue of errors.

“I called for the meeting so that I could identify precisely what action had been taken and what systems had been put in place to stop it happening again.

“The Mental Health Welfare Commission recommended specific staff training and education on treating dementia patients and nutrition.

“Training at Stirling University in March for ten acute hospital nursing staff from Ninewells will be extended to over eighty by the end of the year.

“There has also been an e-learning programme piloted in wards and an Advanced Care Planning training course being piloted in Tayside.

“All registered nurses in medical for elderly wards will be required to attend nutritional care training.

“I was left in no doubt that a lot of new training has been put in place to ensure that standards of dementia care in Tayside are driven up and that new procedures now exist to identify any failings on the ground in the wards.

“I was particularly keen to hear what plans NHS Tayside had put in place to identify where in spite of this, things go wrong. I was therefore pleased to hear that a programme for ‘dementia champions’ being piloted in Angus will be extended to many more staff throughout Tayside.

“These champions and nutrition link nurses will be working with senior charge nurses and be the leaders to ensure the standard of care we aspire to for the elderly is delivered in the wards.

“All patients and relatives can be reassured of the high priority that is given to treating patients with dignity and respect.”

MSP Seeks NHS Meeting to Restore Future Patients’ Confidence

May 27, 2011 Joe FitzPatrick MSP No comments

Following his comments last night on the Ninewells dementia care story, Dundee City West MSP Joe FitzPatrick is to set-up a meeting with NHS Tayside Chief Executive Gerry Marr to seek an asurance that all the problems identified in the 2008 case have been rectifified and that lessons have been learned from the case of the 80 year-old lady identified as “Mrs V” which the Mental Welfare Commission have outlined in a shocking report.

Joe FitzPatrick said: “While this case occurred in 2008 and I am aware that NHS Tayside and the Scottish Government have already taken steps to put in place new ways of working at Ninewells and nationally in a new standards policy for demenetia care, it is important for this to be highlighted so that future patients can have confidence in the level of care they will receive.

“I am also contacting the Cabinet Secretary for Health about this case and about the new dementia care strategy which the Scottish Government has introduced.”

Ninewells Dementia Case Level of Care ‘Totally Unnaceptable’ says local MSP

May 26, 2011 Joe FitzPatrick MSP No comments

Dundee City West MSP Joe FitzPatrick tonight responded to the naming by the BBC of Ninewells as the hospital where an 80 year old lady had died in December 2008 after receiving treatment branded by the Mental Welfare Commission as ‘degrading’. The patient, suffering from dementia, had suffered from a standard of care described as appalling.

Joe FitzPatrick said: “The treatment and standard of care which this lady received over her 11 days at Ninewells was totally unacceptable.

“It seems to have been a catalogue of errors and lack of understanding and altogether an extremely poor performance by staff.

“Although the hospital was not named in the Commission Report, I am even more disturbed to discover tonight that it happened here in Dundee, at Ninewells. “I am aware that the Cabinet Secretary for Health has previouslyconsidered all aspects of the Commission’s Report and that Tayside Health Board have admitted the failures and have already instituted changes and improvements at Ninewells as a result of this distressing case. “I am also aware that new standards of Dementia Care have been introduced nationally since the incident although they have not yet come into effect. When they do we will hopefully not see this appalling case ever repeated.”

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