Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh – safe delivery of care inspection report: May 2023
Document Type
Inspection reports
NHS hospitals and services
Summary
We carried out an unannounced inspection to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, NHS Lothian on Monday 20 to Wednesday 22 February 2023 using our safe delivery of care inspection methodology.
During our inspection, we:
- inspected the ward and hospital environment
- observed staff practice and interactions with patients, such as during patient mealtimes
- spoke with patients, visitors and ward staff (where appropriate), and
- accessed patients’ health records, monitoring reports, policies and procedures.
As part of our inspection, we also asked NHS Lothian to provide evidence of its policies and procedures relevant to this inspection. The purpose of this is to limit the time the inspection team is onsite, reduce the burden on ward staff and to inform the virtual discussion session.
On Tuesday 14 March 2023, we carried out an unannounced follow-up visit to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh to establish if concerns we raised during our initial visit had been addressed.
On Thursday 16 March 2023, we held a virtual discussion session with key members of NHS Lothian staff to discuss the evidence provided and the findings of the inspection.
As a result of serious concerns about patient safety within the emergency department identified during this inspection we wrote to NHS Lothian to formal 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 has been published with this report.
Our findings
This inspection resulted in five areas of good practice, three recommendations and 13 requirements.
“During the inspection, our inspectors raised a number of serious concerns about the safe delivery of care in the hospital’s emergency department. We raised concerns about patient safety, care and dignity, leadership, the coordination of care and staff wellbeing.
“Despite these concerns, our inspectors observed respectful and caring interactions between staff and patients in the majority of ward areas. Patients and relatives we spoke with in all care areas, including the emergency department, said they had received kind and compassionate care from staff.”
Donna Maclean, Chief Inspector, Healthcare Improvement Scotland