The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
NHS Fife ordered to make mental health wards ligature safe
Risk improvement notice after patient suicide
NHS Fife has been forced to improve its acute mental health wards following a suicide in one of its hospitals.
The Health and Safety Executive served a notice against the board in April, ordering it to make all of its mental health wards ligature safe.
Sink pipes, door closers and shower taps will all be removed where possible.
The improvement notice came after a patient died at Whyteman’s Brae Hospital in Kirkcaldy.
The risks had previously been identified in an assessment carried out by the health board but were not addressed.
The notice read: “You have failed to conduct your undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far is as reasonably practicable that… patients at risk of suicide, in areas where they are not continually supervised, are not exposed to risks to their safety in that the ligature points identified in your risk assessment, including sink pipes, door closers and shower taps, have not been removed where it is reasonably practicable to do so.”
NHS Fife’s director of estates, facilities and capital services, Andy Fairgrieve, said a significant capital investment would be required to make current acute mental health wards ligature safe.
This has now been done at Whyteman’s Brae and is in the process of being implemented elsewhere.
Mr Fairgrieve said: “With regard to the anti-ligature work, work has already been completed within Whyteman’s Brae and has been assessed by the Health and Safety Executive.
“We are currently implementing the same work within our two other acute mental health wards at Stratheden and Queen Margaret Hospital.”