Troublshooter for Glasgow's NHS
Health Secretary, Jeane Freeman, has placed the entire health board has now been put at stage four of the NHS Board Performance Escalation Framework
Last updated 24th Jan 2020
The whole of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is being placed under increased scrutiny following the infections scandal at the city's super hospital and the failure to bring down A&E waiting times.
In November, the board was placed at stage four over ongoing issues relating to infection prevention, management and control at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) and the Royal Hospital for Children.
Now Health Secretary, Jeane Freeman, has placed the entire health board has now been put at stage four of the NHS Board Performance Escalation Framework.
To facilitate support for the board, NHS Lanarkshire chief executive Calum Campbell has been appointed as a turnaround director.
Concerns about the water supply on the QEUH campus were raised after it emerged 10-year-old cancer patient Milly Main, from Lanark, died at the children's hospital on the site after contracting an infection in August 2017.
Her parents have called for a fatal accident inquiry into her death.
A five-stage scale is used in Scotland to show the level of oversight for stricken health boards.
A stage four ranking is given to a board where there are "significant risks to delivery, quality, financial performance or safety'' with "senior level external support required''.
Principal areas of support concentrating on scheduled care, unscheduled care, primary care out of hours, finance and culture and leadership, will all be assessed as part of the latest escalation.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said the move would provide an increased level of scrutiny and intervention at the board.
"All of us, rightly, have high expectations of our NHS and I'm focused on improving performance and delivery across the system in order to provide the best care possible for the people of Scotland,'' she said.
"In order to provide additional direction and support to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde I have taken the decision to escalate the board as a whole to stage four of the Performance Escalation Framework.
"Calum Campbell as turnaround director will provide an increased level of scrutiny and intervention.''
As well as the action taken for the board in Glasgow, a number of senior management changes were also made at NHS Highland and NHS Orkney to increase capacity.
Iain Stewart, chief executive of NHS Highland, will take up an executive role within NHS Orkney ahead of taking on the role of chief executive after the phased retirement of current chief executive Gerry O'Brien.
Paul Hawkins, chief executive of NHS Fife, will be seconded to NHS Highland as interim chief executive.
Ms Freeman said the changes would help "enhance leadership capacity'' and better align skills and experience across NHS Scotland.
"In his role as Chief Executive of NHS Highland Iain Stewart has established a culture programme for NHS Highland and worked to bring significant stability to the health board,'' she said.
"This crucial work will now be taken forward by Paul Hawkins who brings considerable skill and experience as an established NHS chief executive.
"I am confident he will successfully take forward the next phase of the board's culture programme.''
Scottish Labour Health Spokesperson Monica Lennon MSP dismissed the changes saying:
“Jeane Freeman has been slow to take firm and decisive action over the growing crisis in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Her announcement today does not go far enough and reads like a game of musical chairs.
“It’s been obvious that there are serious problems within the senior leadership team, who have presided over a patient safety scandal at the flagship Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and are now failing on other key performance measures – which are symptomatic of the wider failure to adequately invest in Scotland’s health service. Half of Scotland’s health boards are in ‘special measures’ and moving around senior executives is not a credible response.
“What will it take for Jeane Freeman to clear out the rot within NHSGGC, rather than tinkering around the edges? Parachuting in senior people, like the Chief Executive of NHS Lanarkshire who leaves behind a laundry list of problems in his own patch, tells us everything we need to know about this SNP government.”