NHS Tayside’s Carseview psychiatric unit in Dundee hus aa the hallmarks o a modren day Bedlam! The nummer o airticles anent avoidable daiths an the raicent Health and Safety Executive investigation in December 2015 kythes a service that is aiblins in crisis.
NHS Tayside’s brent new psychiatric units in Perth an Angus are quoted tae hae cost
£100-120 million funded bi PPP. This despite the fact that entire hospitals hae bin biggit in raicent years fir a fraction o that cost, sic as: New Craigs Psychiatric Hospital in Inverness in 2000 wi 234 beds fir £16.5m; Gartnavel Royal Hospital in Glasgow in 2007 wi 117 beds fir £21m; and Carseview Centre in Dundee in 2002 wi 84 beds fir £10m.
The new unit in Angus wi three wards containin 52 beds appears tae be nae mair than accommodation units, yet appairently cost a staggerin £20-25m – hou can this possibly be the case?
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Aqually alairmin is that a nummer o these units, dangerously non compliant wi national safety guidelines, wir biggit athoot basic safety features resultin in a wheen o inpatient daiths, and hae juist bin seriously condemned in a HSE report follaein an investigation in December 2015 intil the new Perth unit.
There’s nae indication that the HSE hae veesited the Carseview psychiatric unit or the new units at Stracathro in Angus despite the oangaun inpatient daiths at these units. A report in February 2013 is particularly revealin anent the new units in Angus an the oangaun lang-term disasters in NHS Tayside psychiatric facilities that hae claimed the lives o verra vulnerable patients. In spite o these ugsome events, some o whilk wir 15 year ago an some o whilk resultit in criminal prosecution, these daiths are aye-an-oan heppenin:
Whaur wir the fatal accident inquiries, the Mental Welfare Commission veesits or the Health and Safety Executive investigations that could hae stopt these tragedies? Why wis a criminally prosecuted Health Board no bein monitored tae mak shair these daiths wir stoppit?
Hou cuid sic dangerously non compliant units evir hae bin biggit at sic staggerin costs wi sic predictable an tragic ootcomes fir patients an faimilies?
Why are windaes (specified as a hangin risk bi the HSE report in December 2015) still a risk in newly biggit units when they wir pyntit oot as a risk in 2001? Nane needs telt that there shuid be nae obvious ligature pynts in wards containin vulnerable psychiatric patients.
Wha signed aff these byordnar expensive an dangerously non compliant units?
Whaur are the prosecutions o thaim responsible fir these totally predictable tragedies?
Wis patient an staff safety compromised wi disastrous consequences simply tae cut costs oan staffin?
Exackly hou mony patients hae dee’d in NHS Tayside’s psychiatric facilities? Whaur is the investigation intae this national scandal?
There is clearly somethin gey wrang gaun oan at NHS Tayside when it cams tae the psychiatric service. Are we nou witnessin anither Mid Staffs whaur the hale frichtenin disaster wis simply swept unner the cairpet til the body coont cuid nae langer be hidden? These avoidable tragedies hae alsae bin alloued tae conteenue despite Health Improvement Scotland an Dr Alistair Cook, chairman o the Scottish Royal College of Psychiatrists, an chairman o the HIS review team supposedly cairryin oot an investigation intae the NHS Tayside psychiatric service in 2013/14.The role o HIS an Dr Cook wis supposedly tae “Quality assure the care offered by NHS Tayside acute mental health services at its three centres (Carseview Centre, Dundee; Mulberry Ward, Angus; and Moredun Unit, Murray Royal, Perth, and including adult acute inpatient services, intensive care and crisis team)”.
Houanevir, the facts nou kythe that suicides oan wards wir still heppenin whilst this supposed investigation wis oangaun! Whit why did it tak the HSE tae hae tae come in eftir e’en mair avoidable daiths when the causes o these daiths wis aareadies obvious in 2013?
Hou mony o these patients wid be alive the day gin they hud conductit a wicelike investigation? Whit did HIS an Dr Cook ken aboot these maitters when they were supposedly cairryin oot their ain investigation?
A solicitor currently actin fir ane o the Dundee suicide victim’s families is quoted as sayin: “I am in the process of getting in touch with the procurator fiscal and I will request a fatal accident inquiry. I do believe that there is something fundamentally wrong at Carseview. There is something far wrong with the number of people wanting to commit suicide and then doing so, despite being in Carseview and taken there by the police for their own safety. I’ve been in touch with a number of families whose sons have also died in the last five years.”
Professor John Connell, chairman o NHS Tayside, commentin anent NHS Tayside’s three psychiatric units in The Courier oan Mairch 11, 2016, said that NHS Tayside cannae staff these units an that the services are in danger o collapse. The suggestion nou is that NHS Tayside wull shut the 25-bed Mulberry ward at the new unit in Angus that’s anely raicently bin biggit.
Aiblins Professor Connell the NHS Tayside Board shuid explain tae the public why the unit in Angus wis e’er biggit when there haes bin a 20+ bed ward empty in Carseview fir mony years, an why the public hae bin peyin fir the additional an unnecessar cost o a temporary modular unit in the grunds o Carseview ower the same period. Aiblins the public shuid alsae be telt whit wull heppen tae the tuim facilities in Angus that we appear tae be tied in tae fir the neist 30 years!?
Whit is clear is that this is a total bourach!
Gin the 25-bed ward is shut hou wull the twa ither wards, wi a total o 27 beds, stey open gien that staffin wull be aamaist impossible? The Angus patients wull then nae dout be muived tae units in Dundee an Perth that seem aareadies dangerous an in crisis.
NHS Tayside’s Board minutes o January 29, 2016, appear tae raise some serious concerns: They kythe a staggerin £1.251m spend oan psychiatry medical locums ower the nine-month period tae December 2015. These sums kythe a service that is bein run wi a byordnar nummer o locums that wull dae naethin tae help the continuity o safe patient care in the service; an NHS Tayside haes bin runnin its service wi locums fir years raither as employin full-time permanent doctors.
These an ither oangaun tragedies expose whit heppens tae patients an faimilies when there is nae independent health regulator in Scotland, gey few FAI’s or ither safety measuirs, an the Scottish Government refuses tae enforce existin laws lik HSWA 1974.
Whit succour wull aa this gie tae the mithers an faimilies o the NHS Tayside victims?
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