Hospital probe finds 7 problems

Ailing Ayr Hospital has been found lacking after a three- day official probe by inspectors.

In particular problems found with the food service were highlighted among SEVEN ares it must do better.

These included screening and initial assessment, Person- centered care planning, mealtimes, Wards stocked with food, Recording of food and liquid intake, Skin pressure area recording and wound charting

The bombshell was dropped at the same time as it emerged the 308- bed acute centre has the worst performing A& E waiting time in Scotland.

Just 67.6% of patients were seen within the government’s four hour target for the latest quarter.

“They did not meet the 95% target for people to be seen in 12 hours.

Medical investigaters arrived without warning for a three day probe on the care for older patients within the wards.

And the full report, published last week, reveals a total of SEVEN key areas were lacking.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland wants the hospital to do better, and only highlighted three areas of good practice.

They probed the care of older patients in Station 2 ( vascular), 3 which is general surgery, 8 respiratory, 10 trauma, 12 rheumatology, 14 endocrinology, 16 stroke and the Combined Assessment Unit. The hospital needs to improve screening on admission including for nutrition and ulcer risk - not all assessments were fully and accurately completed. Care plans should be more “person centered” after officials found some forms had been signed and dated “even if they were not relevant to the patient.”

The team put the food service under the microscope and found no real evidence that each station had a “mealtime co- ordinator.”

And the report notes: “Staff told us in some stations their meal trolleys are not delivered at a regular time. This means staff find it difficult to plan staff meal breaks around patient mealtimes.

“This can result in some staff not being available to help patients. We saw some meals being handed out by domestic staff as nurses were on their break.”

Some wards did not have breakfast cereals or savoury biscuits which should have been available.

The report adds: “We saw 13 patients with food record charts in place. None of these were fully and accurately completed. This means it is not possible to determine what or how much a patient is eating.”

The hospital has now been warned it must improve mealtimes.

But some of the elderly patients were happy, commenting: “I have received excellent care” and “the staff have been great.”

And 24 out of 25 who returned a questionnaire confirmed staff always checked on them to see if everything was ok. T

he official report, made public on Wednesday, said: “The majority of patients were treated with dignity and respect. Staff were approachable and friendly. We saw that interactions between patients and staff were positive and we did not hear any negative or inappropriate language.”

And of the general hospital environment, it added: “Stations appeared calm and organised despite being busy.

“We saw that they were bright and fresh.”

The areas highlighted of good practice were toast and tea provided in the evening, ward’s lead nurse responsible for food and healthcare records were well organised.

Ian Smith, Head of Quality of Care, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said: “During our inspection, we noted that patient and staff interactions were dignified and positive.

“Although the majority of nutritional assessments were well completed, patient care plans were not always completed fully and accurately.”