NHS Scotland too slow to deal with problems

Duncan McNeil MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde

Critics last night warned patients are suffering while the NHS is too slow to deal with the problems identified. Labour MSP Duncan McNeil, convenor of the health committee, said: "The Scottish government has been singing loudly about its dementia strategy but these figures show the reality is very different.

"The majority in hospitals are older people and deserve much better. What is particularly damning about this is the health boards are being judged by the inspectors on their own guidelines, the inspectors are simply trying to get them to keep to their own agreed standards and it is not working in so many respects.

"My concern is the health boards are more worried about the cycle of inspections than the root problems and what is happening in the months or years between a failing being identified and then fixed."

HIS figures released under freedom of information show that a total of 303 "areas of improvement" have been identified in its 24 hospital inspection reports since 2012.

Just over a third of the failings relate to "care planning for dementia" with every single HIS report warning that screening for the condition on admission to hospital is "not routinely being carried out".

http://www.sundaypost.com/news-views/scotland/hospitals-slow-to-act-on-elderly-care-failings-1.271302