Health inspectors have raised concerns that “many patients” in a Scottish hospital did “not appear well cared for” – with a shocking report telling how they saw the accident and emergency department operating at 230% of capacity.
Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) visited Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, near Falkirk, with their report describing the “extreme pressures” on services there.
The inspectors made clear: “In some areas, including the emergency department and admission units, many patients did not appear well cared for.”
Inspectors saw patients being treated in chairs, with IV drips that had “run dry”, while one person had to wait 25 hours before being found a place in a ward.
Staff at the hospital were seen to be “tearful” and “appeared worried about not being able to provide appropriate safe care and dignity for patients due to overcrowding”.
HIS staff had already made two visits to Forth Valley Royal Hospital in April, before making an unannounced follow-up inspection in September, which they said “raised further serious concerns about the safety and quality of care at Forth Valley Royal Hospital”.