All paediatric surgery paused at Elgin hospital after training and safety concerns raised

Paediatric surgery at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin has been suspended after concerns were raised about the “quality and safety” of care.

Inspectors from Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) carried out an unannounced inspection of the hospital in April.

Concerns were raised about paediatric surgical services, and NHS Grampian confirmed that emergency surgeries were paused in June.

The suspension was extended to all planned procedures, including elective dental and ear, nose and throat (ENT) operations.

Dr Hugh Farrow-Bishop, NHS Grampian medical director, said HIS had “sought insurances” around the number of staff with the appropriate paediatric life support training.

He said that the health board reviewed and urgently made changes to a number of operations following the concerns raised, including procedure reviews, training checks, and rota reviews.

The suspension of surgeries comes amid ongoing financial issues for the health board, which has to make £40m of savings in the next financial year.

NHS Grampian currently has a deficit target set by the Scottish Government of £36m, which the health board says it can only give moderate assurances it can hit.

Dr Farrow-Bishop said: “In response to their concerns, we have reviewed all rotas and current procedures and made changes to ensure staff with the appropriate training are available on-site in the event of emergencies. We have also reviewed training records and are arranging for training to be renewed where required. This is taking place as a matter of urgency.

“While this is under way – and with the safety of patients being our top priority – we have further paused planned paediatric surgical procedures at Dr Gray’s Hospital. The pause now comprises all planned (including elective dental and ear, nose, and throat procedures) and emergency surgery, with defined exceptions.

“We want to apologise to those children – and their families – affected by this. We are committed to offering them new dates for their procedures as soon as possible. After the review and renewal of required training, we will determine the profile of paediatric surgery that can safely be delivered on the Dr Gray’s site, alongside our colleagues at HIS. We currently expect that process to be complete by the end of the year.

“Outpatient paediatric care is not affected by this, and families should continue to attend those appointments as usual. In an emergency situation, parents or carers should continue to bring children to the emergency department. More generally, all other inpatient and outpatient care continues at Dr Gray’s Hospital as before.”

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Laura Mitchell, MSP for Moray, said she was “deeply concerned” by the issues that had been raised by the inspection.

“Of course, the safety of children in Moray and across Grampian is paramount, so I understand NHS Grampian must take urgent action to ensure our service in Elgin is safe and delivering a high quality of care for patients,” she said in a statement on Thursday morning.

“My constituents will be concerned by this serious situation, and NHS Grampian must assure the Moray community that these training issues will be urgently addressed, to allow surgical services to resume as soon as possible.

“I’ve written urgently to NHS Grampian seeking clear timescales for this work. I have also pressed the chief executive to give the community strong assurances the same level of service will be available in Elgin as soon as this important work is complete.

“Given NHS Grampian’s current escalation by the Scottish Government, I am also in touch with the cabinet secretary for health on this issue.”