Hospital Fails To Improve Care For The Elderly

A Scottish hospital has failed to improve its care for the elderly despite concerns in regards to its services following an inspection.

An inspection in November at Galloway Community Hospital raised concerns over the way elderly patients safety and the way that records were kept in the hospital. Despite the concerns, a subsequent investigation has shown that no improvements have been made by the management of the hospital.

Report Analysis

A report from Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) found a "disconnect between senior management and ward staff", with some records of patients being incomplete or missing. The report was also critical of the staff with it stating that they showed a "lack of willingness to ensure that patients have the capacity to consent to treatment".

A subsequent inspection was carried out in January with inspectors failing to see any improvement in the care of elderly at the Dumfries and Galloway hospital. Overall the hospital was urged to improve its care in 26 areas.

Failure to Notice Improvements

Jacqui Macrae, head of quality of care at HIS, said: "This inspection has raised concerns about patient care and safety at Galloway Community Hospital.

"During an inspection in November, we identified issues where patient documentation had not been completed or had not been completed correctly. Therefore, we were not assured that the care being given was appropriate.

"We were also concerned about leadership and management, and found a lack of willingness from medical staff to ensure that patients had the capacity to consent to treatment.

"Due to our concerns regarding the quality of care being provided to patients, we asked for NHS Dumfries & Galloway to conduct an internal review of all patients in one of the hospital's wards.

"We also asked NHS Dumfries & Galloway to produce an action plan.”

She added: “To ensure improvements had been made and were in place, we returned to the hospital and carried out an unannounced follow-up inspection on Wednesday January 7 and Thursday January 8.

"During this revisit, despite an action plan being implemented by NHS Dumfries & Galloway, we failed to identify significant improvements.”

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