Staffing fears for NHS wards across country

HEALTH: 19,000 ‘adverse events’ recorded in Fife

Rooftop protests, suspected bomb threats and staff shortages are among the thousands of incidents blighting hospitals in Fife every year.

More than 19,000 “adverse events” have been recorded at dementia and geriatric wards in the kingdom over the past six years.

They include absconded patients, physical and verbal assaults, treatment blunders and patient falls.

The Scottish Conservatives accused the SNP administration of exacerbating the challenges on dementia wards by failing to staff the NHS properly.

The figures show reports of concerns over staffing levels have increased by 1,556% in five years, from 16 in 2011/12 to 265 in 2016/17.

Donald Cameron, the shadow health secretary, said while many of these incidents are inevitable in such environments, the Government must shoulder some of the blame.

The Tory MSP said patients and families will be “extremely worried at the sheer scale of these flashpoints”. He added: “There are a significant number of incidents which were put down to staffing shortages, or a lack of adequate resources and training, and that very much falls at the Scottish Government’s door.”

Across Scotland, 167,041 adverse events have been recorded in six years, as revealed under freedom of information requests made to health boards by the Scottish Conservatives. NHS Tayside did not respond to the request in time.

A source at NHS Fife said the number of incidents had been “fairly static” over the past few years amid an ageing population putting more pressure on services.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said within complex care systems adverse events do occur. She said: “These can range from minor incidents like slips or near-misses to more serious events.

“We expect health boards to use adverse events as an opportunity to learn and improve, to increase the safety of care for everyone.”

Therearea significant number of incidents which were put down to staffing shortages, or a lack of adequate resources and training. DONALD CAMERON SHADOW HEALTH SECRETARY