NHS Forth Valley: Board pledges to bring about improvements after being placed in special measures

The action was taken amid 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 following criticism by inspectors.

It means the Scottish Government will have “direct formal oversight” of the running of NHS Forth Valley, through an assurance board chaired by Christine McLaughlin, the Scottish Government’s chair of population health.

The chair of the board, Janie McCusker, and chief executive Cathie Cowan addressed members at the start of the meeting to assure them of their commitment to delivering the changes needed to address any concerns.

Ms McCusker said: “On November 23, we were escalated to Level 4 of the NHS Scotland Performance Framework for governance, leadership and culture in addition to performance concerns in a number of areas. This is a significant and serious level of escalation and, as a board, we are committed to doing everything possible to make the changes and improvements required.

“We welcome the additional support of the new Assurance Board which has been established to work with the leadership team. The board will expect this work to be the key priority for the organisation in the weeks and months ahead. This will be critical to ensure that we deliver the changes required to improve the experience of both our patients and staff.”

Chief executive Cathie Cowan also addressed the board, telling them that work to make improvements had already started, saying: “I can assure you and the board members that the executive leadership team is committed to delivering the necessary sustainable changes and improvements required in response to the escalation of the board.

“Work has already started and the executive leadership team will meet with the Assurance Board on Thursday of this week. I hope this demonstrates the priority being given to address these important issues, including patient experience, patient safety and staff wellbeing.”

Staff throughout NHS Forth Valley were informed shortly after the announcement by Health Sinister Humza Yousaf in the Scottish Parliament that it had been placed in special measures.