Scottish Conservative MSP says it is “deeply concerning” that some hospitals in Perthshire have never been inspected.
Analysis carried out by the Scottish Conservatives on Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) data shows 36 hospitals across Scotland have never been inspected since 2011 (when HIS was established). This includes Blairgowrie Community Hospital. And a further 29 have not been inspected in the last half-decade.
That total of 65 comprises more than half of the current number of working hospitals in Scotland.
The findings show that in Tayside, both Blairgowrie Community Hospital and Pitlochry Community Hospital have not been inspected since 2011, when HIS was established, and the data also reveals that Perth Royal Infirmary was last inspected in December 2021.
Mr Fraser says that hospital inspections play a vital role in reassuring patients and staff in Tayside that their hospital is as safe as it can be. He said it is “particularly shocking” that inspections are not being carried out when NHS Tayside is under immense pressure ahead of the winter period. Mr Fraser has called on SNP Health Secretary Michael Matheson to urgently get a grip of this situation and guarantee hospitals in the region will be regularly inspected.
Commenting, Mr Fraser said: “The fact that hospitals in Tayside have either never been inspected or have not been inspected for over five years is deeply concerning.
“Inspections play a vital role in ensuring that patients and staff in NHS Tayside know that their hospital is operating as safely as possible. It is particularly shocking to see these figures emerge at a time when our NHS in Tayside is under immense pressure and facing the prospect of a truly terrifying winter period.
“The onus is on the SNP Health Secretary – who is already presiding over an A&E crisis in NHS Tayside – to get a grip of this situation.
“He must guarantee that hospitals in Tayside that have never – or not recently – been inspected, will be as a matter of urgency.”
