Falkirk health: Fewer patients being placed in extra beds in wards at Forth Valley Royal Hospital

Two years ago, The Falkirk Herald revealed that additional beds were being put in four-bedded rooms, with some patients even placed in treatment areas, raising concerns over safety from staff.

But this week NHS Forth Valley said as part of efforts to free up capacity and reduce delays to treatment, improvements had been made.

The work is part of the improvements demanded of the health board after it was placed in special measures last November, over concerns about long waiting times in A&E and GP out of hours services in particular and a failure to make safety improvements at Forth Valley Royal Hospital following criticism by inspectors.

Last month, Health Secretary Michael Matheson, who is also the Falkirk West constituency MSP, said improvements had been made but more were needed.

A spokesperson said: “The number of contingency beds within ward treatment rooms and four bedded bays at Forth Valley Royal Hospital has reduced significantly over the last few months and new triage arrangements have been introduced within the emergency department to help reduce the number of people experiencing very long waits.”

A new entrance to the urgent care centre at the Larbert hospital has also been opened to enable ambulance crews to bring patients directly to the centre for assessment and treatment. This will ensure patients are seen quicker and free up capacity in the emergency unit.

Work is also underway to develop a new community heart failure service to support patients in their own homes and local communities and help reduce the number of emergency admissions.

NHS Forth Valley added that action taken by both local Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) over the last few months has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of patients experiencing delays in being discharged from local hospitals. This has been achieved by a range of initiatives, including significant investment in the recruitment of additional social care and AHP staff, the creation of new community-based rehabilitation facilities and an increase in the number of home care packages being provided by independent care providers.

Both HSCPs are committed to delivering a further ten per cent reduction in delayed discharges by the end of July 2023.

Andrew Murray, NHS Forth Valley medical director, said: “We recognise there is still much more to do however we expect that these changes, along with ongoing efforts to increase the number of patients discharged before noon and at weekends, will help improve the experience of both staff and patients over the coming months.

“This will be supported by work to maximise the use of our urgent care centre, refurbished discharge lounge and expanded Hospital at Home service, which can now support up to 30 patients who would previously have had to be admitted to hospital. We also want to build on the collaborative work underway across hospital, community and primary care services to improve the way we design and deliver care closer to home.”