NHS Fife chiefs' annual review performance criticised
NHS FIFE has been accused of coming up with "weak" answers to health secretary Nicola Sturgeon's questions during its annual review on Tuesday.
Nicola Sturgeon at the NHS Fife review on Tuesday.
- By Aileen Robertson
- Published in the Courier : 19.08.10
- Published online : 19.08.10 @ 03.45pm
Councillor Andrew Rodger, who claims patients are left waiting on trolleys because of a shortage of hospital beds in Fife, said he was not convinced by the health board's "nervous" performance at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy.
The fact Ms Sturgeon had changed her plans in order to chair the review — when public health minister Shona Robison had been set to attend — because of recent staffing problems at Victoria's A&E unit was "an embarrassment," he said.
"I welcomed the opportunity to attend and that the minister, to her credit, was there and didn't leave it to her deputy. I welcome the fact she recognised the problem of delayed discharges, and that is going to be tackled in the future.
"But some answers the board gave were very weak, and they seemed to be well versed on what they were going to be asked.
"The chief executive John Wilson did not answer my questions, in particular regarding people lying on trolleys."
Mr Rodger is still demanding answers to why Victoria's ward 13 was closed down when he understood from staff that Fife hospital beds are at almost full capacity.
He added, "I believe there will be changes to the top management in Fife and I believe there could be changes at the top level of the board, because I didn't see a confident delivery on the day.
"And it was not good for a minister to be put in that position by a senior management team."
During the meeting, NHS Fife was quizzed on its failure to meet the target of 98% of patients being admitted, discharged or transferred from A&E within four hours of arrival. The compliance rate was 96.7% in the quarter to March 2010.
Mr Wilson, chief executive of the operational division, said the statistic reflected the staffing issues experienced at A&E.
He added, "We do have regular meetings and weekly reports, and we analyse all breaches," he said.
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