Yorkhill hospital risks becoming ‘unsafe’ for children

Urgent action is required to prevent the intensive care unit at Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill from becoming unsafe, it said.

The news came just a day after the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh said that Scotland is lagging behind other developed countries in its provision of care for victims of major trauma.

Experts who examined heart surgery services at Yorkhill hospital found “significant concerns” in relation to poor staffing levels in the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU).

The hospital, home to Scotland’s only specialist children’s cardiac surgery unit, was examined against standards for England which has units designed to accommodate more patients.

In total, 31 areas of the heart surgery services were ranked in the report and most fell below acceptable standards. Nineteen were classed as “poor” and one as “inadequate”.

Last night, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde claimed its children’s heart surgery service at Yorkhill was “both safe and sustainable” but said an action plan was being put in place to address areas for improvement.

The report by an independent panel of experts, published yesterday, found insufficient staff capacity and a poor working relationship between cardiologists and surgical teams. It identified a need for two more consultants and highlighted an uneven workload between the three surgeons working there.

The report said: “The panel was of the view that urgent remedial action is required in PICU to prevent care from becoming unsafe.”

The independent health experts who carried out the study also looked at the sustainability of congenital cardiac surgery at the hospital to ensure it would continue to have the capacity of care required.

They assessed the Yorkhill unit against standards used south of the Border to compare surgical centres.

Children’s cardiac surgery units in England are required to have four full-time consultant surgeons who each perform at least 100 operations a year.

The Glasgow hospital only has three surgeons, which the report said “impeded an ability to deliver a safe surgical rota around the clock”.

The report, commissioned by the Scottish Government, found the workload was not evenly distributed, with one surgeon performing about 140 procedures and the others undertaking 70 each a year.

It also highlighted a poor working relationship between members of the cardiology and surgical teams, and said not enough patients were involved in decision-making at the unit.

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon last night said the intensive care unit provided a “high-quality service” and would be maintained.

She said the hospital had already replaced one of the PICU consultant posts and is advertising for another.

And Scotland’s top doctor, Chief Medical Officer Sir Harry Burns, said the outcomes for patients at the Yorkhill unit were “as good if not better than anywhere across the UK”.

Dr Jennifer Armstrong, medical director of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, assured patients and their families that she was satisfied the service provided was safe.

She told how, at the time of the experts’ visit in November last year, staffing problems in the PICU had been worsened by the departure of two consultants.

Dr Armstrong said: “The Yorkhill team have put in place an action plan to address these issues and we will ensure that this service continues to deliver excellent care.”

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government last night said it was “content” having three surgeons working at the unit was “safe and sustainable” and that each would carry out an average 100 procedures a year and confirmed it would not be looking to recruit a fourth surgeon.

She also said that staff shortages in the paediatric intensive care unit were already being looked at by the board.