NHS Grampian apologises to patients as critical incident stood down at Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin

NHS Grampian has apologised to patients as a critical incident at Moray hospital was stood down following disruption at the weekend.

Hospitals in the North East remain under pressure after a critical incident was declared across the health board on Saturday. It was then stood down on Monday.

Some patients were sent to neighbouring health boards after Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin and Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI) faced “extreme pressure” on their emergency services.

NHS Grampian blamed the local public holiday and staffing shortages, adding that overcapacity in hospitals and delays to discharging patients also contributed to the situation over the weekend.

A critical incident remained in place at Dr Gray’s at hospital-level, which was stood down on Tuesday.

NHS Grampian executive director on call, Alex Stephen, said that while the incident had been stood down, pressures remained on the health service.

He also apologised to patients who were forced to travel to other health boards to receive care.

He explained: “I am pleased that, following a sustained effort from colleagues across our health and social care system, we have been able to stand down the hospital-level critical incident at Dr Gray’s Hospital. Huge thanks to everyone who has gone above and beyond to help us reach this point.

“While this is a positive step, pressures have not gone away. Our teams continue to manage significant challenges across the health and social care system, and demand for urgent and unscheduled care remains high. We will maintain our focus – working alongside partners – on reducing delays, supporting timely discharge and delivering high standards of care.

“We continue to drive forward strategic plans and a substantial programme of improvement work looking specifically at hospital capacity, patient flow, delayed discharge and quality of care.

“Once again, we sincerely apologise to anyone whose care was delayed or who had to travel further for care this weekend. We appreciate your patience and I would also like to acknowledge the professionalism, compassion and resilience shown by colleagues across the north-east and beyond. Their efforts have made a real difference and have helped us safely step down this incident.”

Following the critical incident over the weekend, First Minister John Swinney said hospitals are operating at an overly high level and said some patients were attending hospital rather than attending pharmacies or walk-in clinics.

He added that reforming social care would free up hospital beds for patients unable to be discharged due to a lack of care in the community.

He said: “I think at the core of the issues at NHS Grampian has been that the number of patients who are delayed from leaving hospital because of availability of a care package in the community, that’s an essential part of why I want to reform social care so that members of the public can receive the support that they require, they don’t have to spend longer than possible in hospital and our hospitals can avoid being congested as they clearly have been in the NHS Grampian area.”