Media release: Inspection report for Borders General Hospital, NHS Borders
Healthcare Improvement Scotland today (Thursday 2 October) published a report relating to an unannounced follow-up inspection visit to Borders General Hospital, NHS Borders. The inspection took place on 5 – 6 August 2025.
This inspection is part of a series of targeted unannounced Safe Delivery of Care follow-up inspections of all NHS boards previously inspected. The focus of the follow-up inspections is to check progress on the NHS board’s previous inspection requirements and subsequent improvement action plans.
We carried out an unannounced Safe Delivery of Care inspection at Borders General Hospital from 22 – 23 November, 2022, where, as well as noting six areas of good practice, a total of five requirements were made to the NHS board. On 5 and 6 August 2025 we carried out an unannounced follow up inspection to assess progress made against the actions in the NHS Borders 2022 improvement action plan.
Previous inspection requirements in 2022 included the management of patient mealtimes, patient documentation, reporting of staffing risks, hand hygiene and the state of repair of the environment.
Speaking of the reports, Donna Maclean, Chief Inspector, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said:
“During this follow-up inspection inspectors observed that patients were consistently treated with kindness, compassion and respect. They shared positive experiences and described staff as friendly and supportive and confirmed they could access help when needed.
“Inspectors found improvements with hand hygiene compliance and the appropriate use of personal protective equipment. Improvements were also seen in the co-ordination of patient mealtimes.
“The majority of patient care documentation we reviewed was completed to a high standard.
“Since our previous inspection, NHS Borders has introduced a procedure to mitigate and capture recurrent staffing risks.
“We recognise improvement work underway relating to the maintenance of the hospital, however, there continues to be numerous clinical areas with outstanding requirements relating to flooring replacement. Therefore, further improvements are required in this area.
“Further areas for improvement identified during this inspection included assistance with hand hygiene for patients at mealtimes, correct labelling of cleaning products, risk assessments for patients placed in non-standard care areas and access to call bells for these patients.”
Chief Inspector, Healthcare Improvement Scotland
This follow-up inspection resulted in three areas of good practice, two new recommendations and four requirements.
An improvement action plan has been developed by NHS Borders in order to meet the requirements.
The full inspection report is available to view at: https://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.scot/publications/borders-general-hospital-safe-delivery-of-care-inspection-report-september-2025/
Ends
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.