STV NewsNHS Grampian continued to carry out paediatric surgery for a month despite a temporary suspension being put in place, an inspection report has found.
On Thursday, Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) published three Safe Delivery of Care inspection reports within the health board, including a combined acute care and mental health inspection.
It also included a separate maternity services inspection within Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin and a maternity services inspection at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital, which took place during the week of April 27 this year.
In May, HIS said it wrote to NHS Grampian to formally escalate concerns related to the safe delivery of level two critical care within the high dependency unit at Dr Gray’s.
The improvement body also said it raised “significant concerns” in July about the delivery of safe and effective care for critically unwell paediatric patients.
Concerns related to staff training levels to support the safe delivery of paediatric care across the hospital, and an increase in reported adverse events relating to the timely transfer of critically ill children.
A temporary suspension of all elective paediatric surgery was put in place on July 9, alongside an existing suspension of emergency paediatric surgery.
However, HIS was later notified by NHS Grampian that elective paediatric dental and ENT surgery continued within the health board until August 6.
“This affected our confidence in the reliability and consistency of the information received from NHS Grampian.”
Eddie Docherty, director of Quality Assurance and Regulation at HIS
Mental health and maternity inspections
The inspections of the mental health ward and acute services at Dr Gray’s Hospital resulted in 13 areas of good practice, one recommendation and 15 requirements.
Eddie Docherty, director of Quality Assurance and Regulation at HIS, said: “In both acute and mental health services we observed positive staff and patient interactions and patients spoke highly of the care received. We observed good practice and recording of incidents relating to the restraint of patients in the mental health unit and documentation was completed to a high standard.
“We identified concerns regarding the medical model of care in the high dependency unit which relied significantly on a locum consultant. Furthermore, there was a lack of assurance that a robust medical structure was in place to support the provision of care over 24 hours, seven days a week.”
Speaking of the maternity services inspection at Dr Gray’s, Mr Docherty said: “We observed staff providing responsive and person-centred care with respectful and caring interactions between women, their families and staff. Women described having access to regular pain relief and being informed of their available options prior to the birth of their baby.
“However, staff described challenges accessing consultant input out of hours and when arranging transfers to Aberdeen Maternity Hospital or Raigmore Hospital. Midwives reported that their clinical judgement was sometimes questioned by colleagues in receiving units.
“We raised concerns with NHS Grampian on July 23, 2026 about low compliance with staff annual appraisals, an absence of a clear structure to implement clinical supervision within maternity services and variable compliance with essential mandatory training.
“In response, NHS Grampian acknowledged variable training compliance rates, informing us of an improvement approach to increase midwifery and obstetric compliance with maternity-specific training to 90% by March 2027.”
The Dr Gray’s maternity inspection resulted in nine areas of good practice, two recommendations and 15 requirements.
STV NewsThe inspection of Aberdeen Maternity Hospital included the combined antenatal and postnatal wards. It resulted in eight areas of good practice, three recommendations and 20 requirements.
Mr Docherty added: “During our inspection, we saw staff working hard as a multidisciplinary team to deliver person-centred care and women and their families being treated with dignity, kindness and compassion. Women described positive experiences and felt respected. Women and their families were able to access specialised bereavement care.
“Midwives working within the midwifery-led unit spoke highly of the support and oversight received from labour ward staff, including senior charge midwives. However, some staff described varying experiences of civility between departments.
“Improvements are required in the oversight of data to support recognition of pregnant and postnatal women at risk of clinical deterioration.
“We again observed issues around compliance with staff annual appraisals, an absence of a clear structure to implement clinical supervision within maternity services and variable compliance with essential mandatory training.
“These were formally escalated to NHS Grampian on July 23, 2026, alongside our concerns about maternity services at Dr Gray’s Hospital.”
Speaking of the inspections overall, Mr Docherty added: “During these inspections, Healthcare Improvement Scotland repeatedly raised concerns with NHS Grampian. While NHS Grampian engaged with this process and subsequently corrected inaccuracies, there were several instances where inaccurate updates or assurances were provided, impacting our confidence in the reliability and consistency of the information received.”
A separate independent diagnostic review of NHS Grampian, undertaken by HIS, was also published on Thursday and found “serious patient safety issues“.
NHS Grampian chief executive Laura Skaife-Knight, who commissioned the review, admitted failures recognised in the report.
NHS Grampian has been contacted for comment on the inspection reports.
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