Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh – safe delivery of care inspection report: December 2023
Document Type
Inspection reports
NHS hospitals and services
Summary
We carried out an unannounced inspection of Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, NHS Lothian on Monday 20 to Wednesday 22 February 2023.
Inspectors returned to Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh on Tuesday 14 March 2023 to establish if concerns we raised during our initial visit had been addressed.
As a result of serious concerns about patient safety within emergency department identified during that inspection we wrote to NHS Lothian to formally escalate our concerns in accordance with level 1 of our escalation process in the Healthcare Improvement Scotland and Scottish Government: operating framework. A copy of the letter was published alongside the report.
The safe delivery of care inspection in February 2023 resulted in three recommendations and 13 requirements.
To address these requirements, and in line with our safe delivery of care methodology, NHS Lothian submitted an improvement action plan detailing the actions it intended to take in response to the concerns we identified.
We returned to carry out an unannounced follow-up inspection of Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in September 2023. The purpose of this follow-up inspection was to assess progress made against the actions contained in NHS Lothian’s improvement action plan and the serious patient safety concerns raised through our formal escalation process.
Our findings
This follow-up inspection resulted in four new areas of good practice, one new recommendation and one new requirement. One recommendation and seven requirements from our February 2023 inspection remain outstanding.
“During this follow-up inspection we observed that considerable progress has been made in responding to concerns. The delivery of fundamental care has improved in the emergency department and in supporting patient care, dignity and leadership.
“However, further work is needed to support the timely flow of patients from the emergency department to an appropriate care area out of hours and at weekends.”
Donna Maclean, Chief Inspector, Healthcare Improvement Scotland