Galloway Community Hospital care concerns persist

A south of Scotland community hospital has still not done enough to address the significant concerns of inspectors.

Out of 26 problems identified at Galloway Community Hospital in Stranraer, only seven have been fully addressed by NHS Dumfries and Galloway.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) said patients were ringing for nurses for a long time before anyone came.

Earlier this year NHS Dumfries and Galloway apologised for being "unable to demonstrate best standards of care".

The latest report said patients were not properly assessed for malnutrition, the danger of falls and medicine requirements.

Inspectors concluded the hospital also needed to make improvements to make it more suitable for people with dementia and to make sure patients were discharged as quickly as possible.

The results of previous inspections on standards of care for older people were published in February and outlined a large number of areas where action was needed.

A follow-up inspection in March found some of them had been tackled but many remained unaddressed.

Improvements noted

HIS head of quality of care Jacqui Macrae said: "This was a follow-up inspection, which was designed to assess the progress made by NHS Dumfries and Galloway towards addressing 26 areas for improvement identified following our previous inspections in November 2014 and January 2015.

"During this follow-up inspection, in March 2015, we acknowledged areas where improvements have been made in relation to the care provided to older people at Galloway Community Hospital.

"We noted improvements in the use of do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation documentation within the hospital, and found communication between staff and senior management had also improved."

However, she said inspectors found that further improvements were still required in specific areas.

"Of the areas for improvement identified previously, we saw evidence during this inspection that NHS Dumfries and Galloway have met seven," she said.

"Three areas will be carried forward to future inspections and 16 areas remain as areas for improvement."

The full report is available online.