NHS Highland in ‘high-quality care’ pledge after concern over nine-year wait for inspection at Wick hospital
NHS Highland has emphasised that it remains “dedicated to delivering high-quality care”, with patient safety as the top priority, after concern over the rate of inspections at Caithness General Hospital in Wick.
The assurance from the health board came after Scottish Conservatives highlighted data showing that the Wick hospital was last inspected in August 2016, while the Belford Hospital in Fort William has not been checked since October 2017.
The Conservatives noted that Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) aims to inspect hospitals every three years and called on Scotland’s health secretary Neil Gray to give a guarantee that Caithness General and the Belford will be treated as top priorities.
The two other main hospitals in the NHS Highland area, Raigmore in Inverness and Lorn and Islands in Oban, were both inspected in October 2024, with the findings for each published in February this year.
Highland News and Media asked NHS Highland whether patients and their families, and staff, have grounds for concern that Caithness General Hospital has gone without an inspection for nine years.
A spokeswoman for NHS Highland said: “NHS Highland prioritise patient safety and remain dedicated to delivering high-quality care. Our hospitals are supported by internal clinical and care governance processes, regular reporting, [and] performance monitoring, including analysis of patient and staff feedback, to continue delivering effective high standards of care.
“We are unable to comment on Health Improvement Scotland inspection or review schedules.”
HIS was asked to explain the apparent delay in inspecting Caithness General Hospital, and whether there are plans for it to be inspected in the near future.
A spokesperson for HIS said: “We have an established inspection prioritisation procedure in place which helps us to target inspection resources to best effect.
“The process for prioritising inspections is regularly refreshed and includes analysis of a range of available data and intelligence to identify issues and adapt our inspection focus accordingly.
“Our current inspection process is much broader than previous inspection approaches, considering a complex and comprehensive range of factors that impact on safety and quality of care, to provide assurance to patients and the public, and support ongoing improvements in care.
“Following each inspection, we publish inspection reports to outline our findings and the actions being taken by NHS boards.”
Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane, a Glasgow MSP, said: “Two years after we first rang the alarm bell about this, these hospitals [in Wick and Fort William] have still not received a basic inspection. Close to a decade has now passed, which is unacceptable and potentially dangerous.
“Ministers have the power in law to direct that any hospital be inspected, and it is long past time that Neil Gray steps in and uses this power.
“For the safety of patients and staff, Caithness General Hospital and Belford Hospital must undergo an urgent inspection.
“Allowing any further delay would be a clear admission that the SNP does not care about the health of the people of the Highlands.”
Scottish Conservative shadow rural affairs secretary Tim Eagle, an MSP for the Highlands and Islands, said: “These alarming figures show hospital inspections are a postcode lottery, with rural areas like the Highlands disproportionately affected.
“It is deeply concerning that we simply have no idea as to how the two hospitals have been coping in recent years under immense pressure.
“At a time when our NHS is overwhelmed and hardworking frontline staff are at breaking point, it is shocking that basic inspections aren’t being carried out to measure how they are coping.”