Patients claim

Dementia patients are crawling about on the ground while staff eat their dinner around them.

That is the shocking claim from an Ailsa Hospital insider who says the NHS are already regretting the closure of its Dunure Ward.

NHS bosses this week said they were exteremly concerned about the claims made by a whistleblower about the care of dementia patients at the Jura Ward.

They insist that no- one has raised the concerns or treatment of patients to them.

A NHS spokesman said NHS Ayrshire & Arran provides a high standard of care for all our patients.

“If any of our patients, member of the public or our staff have concerns about the care being provided in our hospitals they are able to raise these formally or informally, either through our complaints process or through the organisation’s anonymous whistleblowing process,” he added.

“We would assure you that all claims would be thoroughly investigated.

“We are extremely concerned about the claims made in relation to patient care within Jura Ward. No staff member has made these allegations formally or informally to management or through our anonymous whistleblowing process. We are not aware of any alleged patient neglect and in fact are confident in our staff who work hard to deliver the best care to their patients.

“We continue to review how we provide elderly mental health inpatient care across Ayrshire and Arran, particularly recognising that the accommodation on Ailsa site is not of an equivalent standard to the accommodation provided at the purpose- built and award- winning designed facilities at Woodland View, which opened in May 2016.

“The closure of Dunure Ward was planned and implemented as part of this review, which fully involved staff and patients and their relatives. As with all hospitals, Woodland View’s capacity changes on a daily basis as patients are being admitted and discharged.

“Woodland View’s capacity is robustly monitored to ensure that patients receive the level of care they require, whether that be in a hospital setting, a care home or in the community.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “High quality care and the safety of all patients using our health and social care services is absolutely paramount.

“We expect all boards to provide appropriate provision of services which meets the needs of those who require them.

“Boards are expected to manage their bed capacity appropriately, so that patients receive safe and effective support when they need it.

“This week, the Mental Health Minister will be visiting Ailsa Hospital and will hear about overall local strategic plans to modernise specialist NHS dementia care and strengthen community services, in line with the independent expert report commissioned by the Scottish Government and published last year.

“The Scottish Government supports the report’s recommendations.

“During implementation of this report locally, we expect a small number of patients to be offered a transition due to service re- design.

“In these circumstances, patients of families should not meet any care or accommodation costs and we expect those to be met locally.

“All decisions must be made with the full consultation of the families involved.”