Questions are asked on ‘avoidable’ deaths
Letter to NHS chief
A Wishaw councillor has written to the chair of NHS Lanarkshire questioning the health board over ‘ avoidable’ deaths at Wishaw General Hospital.
Last week the Wishaw Press reported 34 patients died in Wishaw General betwee who were waiting top be discharged from January 1, 2015 to September 30 last year.
The number of patients across Lanarkshire to die was more than 130 prompting Councillor Sam Love to write to NHS Lanarkshire chief Neena Mahal.
In his letter to Ms Mahal, Councillor Love said: “Can you advise me how many of these deaths in Lanarkshire were judged fit to return home but lay languishing in wards and died in Wishaw General Hospital?
“Did the decision by North Lanarkshire Council to withdraw funding to provide re-enablement and palliative care at the former Belhaven Home in Dryburgh Road, Wishaw, contribute to these deaths?”
Last year plans to construct a new £ 4 million intermediate facility for patients on the former Belhaven Care Home site were dropped by the new Lanarkshirewide Joint Integration Board.
Councillor Love, a long-term advocate for an intermediate facility in Wishaw, has been an outspoken critic of the JIB’s decision.
Janice Hewitt, chief accountable officer, health and social care North Lanarkshire, said: “Community services in North Lanarkshire supported a 20 per cent increase in discharges from hospital from 2015 to 2016 for the months of August to November.
“Further work is taking place to tackle delayed discharge including understanding and addressing demand at A& E, earlier notification of relatives and additional staff to carry out complex assessments.”