Scottish NHS Boards slammed by Ombudsman

By Cara Sulieman

SEVERAL Scots health boards have been slammed by the Public Services Ombudsman over a series of complaints by patients – on the same day that NHS Scotland was revealed as being the least efficient in the UK.

Jim Martin, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, has highlighted six cases where complaints were upheld against NHS Boards.

In his January report, which was delivered to the Scottish Parliament today (Weds), Mr Martin said that the cases “speak for themselves in the suffering many of them describe”.

The “stories of inconvenience, pain, distress and suffering” uncovered by the Ombudsman included an elderly woman with dementia who suffered in silence for two months before NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde finally diagnosed her broken leg.

Scottish hospitals throwing away millions of pounds of food

By Cara Sulieman

HOSPITALS in Scotland have thrown away a £6 million mountain of food in the last two years.

Averaging £3 million a year; NHS Boards in Scotland are literally throwing money down the drain as they waste hundreds of thousands of meals a year.

The 14 health boards throw out over 400,000 meals between them annually.

But the figure could be much more – with only five boards able to provide accurate numbers to FOI investigators.

The Taxpayer’s Alliance have branded the amounts “disturbing” and said that whilst some waste is expected, hospitals should do everything they can to reduce the amounts or recycle food that isn’t used.