NHS Grampian bosses apologise to patients after damning report revealed catalogue of failures

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Services watchdog Health Improvement Scotland (HIS) found “serious weaknesses in all aspects of leadership and management,” from workforce plans to poor management of doctors that impacted patient care and safety.

There were also 104 serious adverse event investigations outstanding – 76 outside national timescales – and failures in the investigation of a patient’s death during surgery.

The review also reported the board had temporarily suspended paediatric surgery in June following “patient safety concerns” and management were unaware until August that improvements had not been “fully enacted.”

HIS medical director Simon Watson warned: “There are findings that will make difficult reading for NHS Grampian’s leadership.”

NHS Grampian chief executive Laura Skaife-Knight responded: “As a board we own and accept the findings, we apologise to our patients, families and communities for letting them down and we commit to putting things right.”

At First Minister’s Questions (FMQs) today, Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra said: “It shouldn’t take 10 years and multiple damning reports to deliver change in NHS Grampian.

“Harm to children, lack of patient safety and a failure to learn lessons for over a decade.

“At the top of too many of our health boards, there are managers who are not accountable to citizens. Too often concerned with managing headlines, rather than delivering care.”

Responding, Mr Swinney insisted: “I am being absolutely transparent about the weaknesses in NHS Grampian today. I am not trying to defend anything.

“There is a lot that has got to change there to address the legitimate issues that are raised here, because the public attitudes and public confidence are at the heart of all of this.”