NHS Highland Fined Over Patient Death
The north's health board has been ordered to pay £40,000 after the death of James South in 2014.
NHS Highland has been fined £40,000 for safety failings which led to the death of a patient.
James South died after being served food at Raigmore Hospital when he wasn't medically fit to eat.
The health board admitted fault in the incident last year at Inverness Sheriff Court.
Mr South was a patient in Ward 11 last February and was deemed 'Nil by Mouth', meaning he was unfit to take food or medicine orally. The board has since reviewed procedures and improved systems to prevent such incidents in the future.
Dr Rod Harvey, Board Medical Director for NHS Highland, said: “On behalf of NHS Highland I firstly want to acknowledge that this has been a tragic incident for the family.
"The systems we had in place were not consistently good enough and had they been more effective this death could have been avoided.
This is something we deeply regret and for which we apologise unreservedly to the family. “It is also important to emphasise that we have taken this extremely seriously from the outset. We carried out an immediate investigation, and reported the case to the Procurator Fiscal and Health and Safety Executive.
"We have fully cooperated with the investigation including making a plea of guilty at the earliest opportunity.”