Media Release: First maternity unit inspection report published, Ninewells Hospital, NHS Tayside
Inspection Report: Ninewells Hospital, NHS Tayside.
Healthcare Improvement Scotland today (Thursday 15 May) published a report relating to a safe delivery of care inspection visit to Ninewells Hospital, NHS Tayside. We carried out the unannounced inspections of acute services and maternity services at the hospital on 27-29 January 2025.
This is Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s first safe delivery of care inspection of maternity services.
Speaking of our expansion of safe delivery of care inspections into maternity services, Eddie Docherty, Director of Quality Assurance and Regulation, said:
“Our organisation is also producing a set of standards for maternity services, which will in time support our inspection process for maternity services.”
Director of Quality Assurance and Regulation
Speaking of the report, Donna Maclean, Chief Inspector, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said:
“However, as a result of concerns identified during our inspection, that required immediate improvement, we carried out an unannounced revisit on 12 February 2025. The concerns related to variation in practice to assessing women within maternity triage and to staff access and awareness of retrieval of emergency medication within the maternity triage department.
“During the revisit we were not assured that sufficient progress or improvement had been made with some of our concerns and we therefore formally wrote to NHS Tayside outlining areas of assurance required. These included variations in oversight and governance observed in both the hospital inspection and maternity services, and a lack of oversight by senior managers within maternity services. NHS Tayside responded with details of immediate improvement actions taken.
Chief Inspector, Healthcare Improvement Scotland
“Other areas for improvement include assurance of safe staffing, fire safety issues and the maintenance of the hospital environment. These areas for improvement were also included in the acute hospital inspection of Ninewells.”
The maternity services inspection resulted in nine areas of good practice, three recommendations and 20 requirements.
Speaking of the acute hospital inspection of Ninewells, Donna Maclean said:
“Site wide hospital huddles were thorough and supported staff to identify potential staffing risks. Senior nurses were visible throughout the inspection with staff and student nurses describing a positive and supportive culture in the hospital.
“Inspectors observed teams working hard to provide safe and effective care, which was reflected in the feedback from patients and their relatives. Senior managers were visible and aware of the current challenges and were proactively working to reduce any risks.
“Areas for improvement identified included processes in relation to fire safety training, and poor compliance of hand hygiene. Inspectors also observed that the current layout of older wards has impacted upon the provision of accessible showering facilities which can compromise patient dignity.”
Chief Inspector, Healthcare Improvement Scotland
The acute hospital inspection resulted in ten areas of good practice, one recommendation and 14 requirements.
An improvement action plan has been developed by NHS Tayside to meet the requirements for both maternity and acute services.
The full inspection reports are available to view at: Ninewells Hospital – safe delivery of care inspection May 2025
Notes to editor
This report is part of Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s programme of inspections and reviews.
Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s statutory role is to help improve the quality of health and care, provide information to the public about the quality of health and care services, monitor public involvement, and to evaluate and provide advice on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of medicines and health technologies.
