Forth Valley NHS board to 'do everything possible' to address problems that led to special measures
29.11.2022 - 21:39
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
The board of NHS Forth Valley met today for the first time since being put into special measures by the Scottish Government.
The action was taken amid concerns about long waiting times in A&E and GP out of hours services in particular and a failure to make safety improvements at Forth Valley Royal Hospital following criticism by inspectors.
It means the Scottish Government will have "direct formal oversight" of the running of NHS Forth Valley, through an assurance board chaired by Christine McLaughlin, the Scottish Government's chair of population health.
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The chair of the health board, Janie McCusker, and chief executive Cathie Cowan addressed members at the start of the meeting to assure them of their commitment to delivering the changes needed to address any concerns.
Ms McCusker said: "On November 23, we were escalated to Level 4 of the NHS Scotland Performance Framework for governance, leadership and culture in addition to performance concerns in a number of areas.
"This is a significant and serious level of escalation and, as a board, we are committed to doing everything possible to make the changes and improvements required.
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"We welcome the additional support of the new Assurance Board which has been established to work with the leadership team.
"The board will expect this work to be the key priority for the organisation in the weeks and months ahead.
"This will be