Current status: Answered by Neil Gray on 23 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of (a) any pressures being experienced by the Emergency Department at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and (b) the impact of any such pressures on the provision of pre-hospital critical care.
The national Centre for Sustainable Delivery (nhscfsd.co.uk) has undertaken significant work over the past year to diagnose the key challenges within Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
Along with each local board across Scotland, NHS Lothian has a set of bespoke action plans which will bring about the greatest opportunities to create capacity in the system, resulting in lower occupancy and increased flow through the hospital. The Scottish Government will work with NHS Lothian to determine what support is required to embed these plans into business as usual that will allow sustainable improvements.
In terms of assessment of any impact of A&E pressures at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on the provision of pre-hospital critical care, the Scottish Government receives weekly performance reports which include details on response times to the most critical calls to the Scottish Ambulance Service and times for turnaround of ambulances at A&E departments throughout Scotland, including the Royal Infirmary. Clear escalation plans are in place for all Boards should pressures on A&E be impacting on any level of patient care and mechanisms in place for any escalation to be reported to us.