Media release: Inspection reports for Dr Gray’s Hospital and Aberdeen Maternity Hospital, NHS Grampian 

“In both acute and mental health services we observed positive staff and patient interactions and patients spoke highly of the care received. We observed good practice and recording of incidents relating to the restraint of patients in the mental health unit and documentation was completed to a high standard.  
 
“We identified concerns regarding the medical model of care in the high dependency unit which relied significantly on a locum consultant. Furthermore, there was a lack of assurance that a robust medical structure was in place to support the provision of care over 24 hours, 7 days a week. 
 
“On 1 May 2026, we wrote to NHS Grampian to formally escalate concerns related to the safe delivery of level 2 critical care within the high dependency unit at Dr Gray’s Hospital.  
 
“In addition, we also raised significant concerns with NHS Grampian in July 2026 about the delivery of safe and effective care for critically unwell paediatric patients. Concerns related to staff training levels to support the safe delivery of paediatric care across the hospital, and an increase in reported adverse events relating to the timely transfer of critically ill children.  
 
“As a result, a temporary suspension of all elective paediatric surgery was put in place on 9 July, alongside the existing suspension of emergency paediatric surgery. 
 
“However, NHS Grampian later notified Healthcare Improvement Scotland that elective paediatric dental and ENT surgery continued until 6 August. This affected our confidence in the reliability and consistency of the information received from NHS Grampian.” 

“We observed staff providing responsive and person-centred care with respectful and caring interactions between women, their families and staff. Women described having access to regular pain relief and being informed of their available options prior to the birth of their baby. 
 
“However, staff described challenges accessing consultant input out of hours and when arranging transfers to Aberdeen Maternity Hospital or Raigmore Hospital. Midwives reported that their clinical judgement was sometimes questioned by colleagues in receiving units.  
 
“We raised concerns with NHS Grampian on 23 July 2026 about low compliance with staff annual appraisals, an absence of a clear structure to implement clinical supervision within maternity services and variable compliance with essential mandatory training. 
 
“In response NHS Grampian acknowledged variable training compliance rates informing us of an improvement approach to increase midwifery and obstetric compliance with maternity specific training to 90% by March 2027.”

“During our inspection, we saw staff working hard as a multidisciplinary team to deliver person-centred care and women and their families being treated with dignity, kindness and compassion. Women described positive experiences and felt respected. Women and their families were able to access specialised bereavement care. 

 
“Improvements are required in the oversight of data to support recognition of pregnant and postnatal women at risk of clinical deterioration.  
 
“We again observed issues around compliance with staff annual appraisals, an absence of a clear structure to implement clinical supervision within maternity services and variable compliance with essential mandatory training. These were formally escalated to NHS Grampian on 23 July 2026, alongside our concerns about maternity services at Dr Gray’s Hospital.” 

“During these inspections, Healthcare Improvement Scotland repeatedly raised concerns with NHS Grampian. While NHS Grampian engaged with this process and subsequently corrected inaccuracies, there were several instances where inaccurate updates or assurances were provided, impacting our confidence in the reliability and consistency of the information received.”