RECOVERY PLAN FOR NHS BOARD ‘IN CRISIS’
NHS Forth Valley officials are working on a `recovery plan’ after it was judged to have fallen below expected performance standards.
A new ward is to be created at Forth Valley Royal Hospital and an additional two operating theatres are to be opened in an attempt to cut waiting times.
Mid Scotland and Fife Tory MSP Alexander Stewart described the health authority as being “in crisis” after its shortcomings were highlighted last week by NHS Scotland chief executive Paul Gray .
In a letter to Holyrood’s public health committee, Mr Gray referred to the NHS
board performance
escalation network which gives an indication of the way boards are operating by grading them on a scale of one to five. Stage one means `steady state’while five denotes a health authority judged unable to deliver effective care.
Boards failing to measure up are offered additional support to improve performance and address issues in areas such as finance and governance.
Mr Gray told the MSPs five of the Scotland’s regional health boards – including NHS Forth Valley – were in need of “intervention”to help them maintain expected standards of care delivery.
NHS Forth Valley, and NHS Ayshire and Arran, were put at stage three indicating risks are materialising and support is required. Two health boards – NHS Highland and NHS Borders – were put at stage four while troubled NHS Tayside was classified stage five.
NHS Forth Valley has frequently struggled to hit key waiting time targets . For example, between January and March this year waiting times for inpatient and day case appointments were the worst in the country. Only 56.1 per cent of NHS Forth Valley patients in that category were seen within the 12-week target time, compared with 75.9 per cent across Scotland.
And figures for September indicated 82.3 per cent of Forth Valley patients were treated within 18-weeks of referral when the target figure should be 90 per cent.
And latest figures for treatment of cancer are mixed. Patients should wait not more than 62 days from referral with a suspicion of cancer to first cancer treatment. NHS Forth Valley failed to hit the 95 per cent target between July and September but during that period they did meet a second standard which lays down that at least 95 per cent of patients will wait no longer than 31 days between decision to treat cancer and first treatment.
A spokesperson for NHS Forth Valley said they were“working hard” to improve performance.
“A number of actions have already been taken to increase capacity and reduce delays. These include new arrangements to tackle delayed discharges and additional investment in community services to provide more alternatives to hospital admission.
“Work is also underway to create a more detailed recovery plan which will set out the additional actions we plan to take improve our performance, specifically in relation to emergency and unplanned care.
“In addition, during 2019 we plan to open two additional operating theatres, purchase a second MRI scanner and create a new 32-bed ward within Forth Valley Royal Hospital. These service developments will increase our overall capacity and help us to carry out thousands of extra operations and diagnostic tests every year.”