Dundee’s constituency MSPs Joe FitzPatrick and Shona Robison say they are “reassured” improvements in patient care for older people at Ninewells Hospital have either been completed or are under way.
Following a report by Health Improvement Scotland inspectors, which highlighted 17 areas for improvement in the Care of Older People in an Acute Setting at Ninewells Hospital, the two MSPs were invited to a briefing by NHS Tayside chief Executive Gerry Marr.
After hearing from what has been and done to address the issues, the MSPs said they had been reassured by what they had seen and heard.
Last week NHS Tayside chairman Sandy Watson revealed 70% of the concerns raised had already been put right.
In addition, the extension of the new Acute Medical Assessment Unit (AMU), which has replaced admissions wards 15 and short-stay ward 14, is on schedule to be completed in mid-February.
The unit, has already revolutionised the way staff care for new patients, particularly the vulnerable elderly, NHS Tayside said.
Ms Robison said: “The briefing by NHS Tayside gave MSPs an opportunity to be fully informed about issues raised in the recent inspection report, but more importantly, the action taken by NHS Tayside to improve patient care for older people at Ninewells.
“The staff in the hospital work very hard to provide a good and caring environment for their patients and they should be supported in doing so.
“We are now reassured that all improvements highlighted have either been completed or are under way.”
Mr FitzPatrick added: “It is very important that older patients are confident that they will continue to receive the highest quality care at Ninewells and the improvements we heard about should help reassure them in that regard.
“We had a very informative visit to the Acute Medical Assessment Unit to see for ourselves the good quality of patient care being carried out there.”
The purpose of the unit is to assess the people’s needs more quickly, in particular unstable and elderly patients, and provide the most appropriate care immediately.
More staff have been recruited, with the number of consultants delivering care in the unit rising from one in 2000 to eight once the unit is complete.
In addition, more nursing staff and physiotherapists have also joined the AMU team, which lead clinician, Dr Nicola Irvine, says has allowed the unit to operate extended hours, seven days a week.
“We have an ageing population and the number of people over 75 being screened for dementia has been increasing. We have been increasing staff at the unit, so we are now able to provide care by senior staff seven days a week.
“On average in the winter we have 40-50 admissions in a 24-hour period, around 1,000 per month. It used to be that figure would dip in the summer months, but last year it didn’t it has remained constant for the past couple of years now.
“We knew the unit wasn’t big enough, so we have increased the number of beds and now patients aren’t coming in and staying in bed for seven days waiting to be properly assessed.
“Some ambulatory patients are very quickly assessed, and those who can are able to receive the correct care plan but can go home to their own beds.
“They are referred from their GPs and we can assess very quickly as to whether they are to be admitted or not.
“At the moment 70% of our patients come directly to us instead of going through accident and emergency, and that’s pretty unique in Scotland.”
Once completed, the AMU will include a new separate nursing station, four assessment rooms and an ambulatory assessment area.