NHS Grampian responds to latest Healthcare Improvement Scotland inspection reports

NHS Grampian has accepted the publication of the latest Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s inspection reports, which recognise many areas of good practice, examples of compassionate, patient-centred and outstanding care alongside identifying areas where further improvement is required.

 

Three Safe Inspection of Care Reports by Healthcare Improvement Scotland have been published today following April 2026 unannounced inspections at NHS Grampian as follows:

 

· Maternity at Dr Gray’s Hospital (DGH)

· Maternity at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital (AMH)

· Mental Health and Acute Services at Dr Gray’s Hospital

 

 

The reports recognise the commitment, compassion and professionalism of maternity staff across Grampian, highlighting positive experiences reported by women and families and a number of areas of good practice. Inspectors observed staff working hard to deliver person-centred care, positive multi-disciplinary team working and respectful interactions with women, babies and families.

 

Women and families spoke highly of the care they received, and inspectors noted calm, organised environments and supportive leadership across services. At Aberdeen Maternity Hospital, inspectors identified eight areas of good practice, including compassionate care, strong multi-disciplinary working, specialist bereavement support and positive patient experiences. At Dr Gray’s Hospital, inspectors identified nine areas of good practice, including responsive care, positive staff wellbeing initiatives, supportive leadership and strong engagement with local communities.

 

The reports also identify areas requiring further improvement for Maternity Services across Grampian. These include governance and oversight arrangements, mandatory training compliance, adverse event management, staffing processes, clinical leadership time, psychological safety and ensuring women receive the right care in the right place from the right professional team.

 

Many of the concerns outlined in the reports had already been identified by NHS Grampian and improvement work is already underway. This includes programmes to improve appraisal and training compliance, strengthen maternity governance arrangements, enhance maternity triage processes, improve reporting and learning from adverse events and progress wider service improvement programmes across maternity services.

 

Rabina Tindale, NHS Grampian’s Interim Executive Director of Nursing, Midwifery and AHPs, said: “We welcome these reports and the opportunity they provide to continue improving Maternity Services for women, babies and families across Grampian.

 

“We are pleased Healthcare Improvement Scotland recognised the commitment of our maternity teams and the compassionate, person-centred care provided every day across both Aberdeen Maternity Hospital and Dr Gray’s Hospital.

 

“We fully acknowledge the areas where improvement is required and accept the findings of the reports. Many of these areas had already been identified by the Board with work underway to address them as part of our already agreed priorities for 2026/27, including improving appraisal and mandatory training rates in the organisation.

 

“We remain committed to delivering safe, high-quality maternity care and will continue to work closely with our staff, women and families, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and our partners to deliver the improvements identified.

 

“I would like to thank all colleagues working within maternity services for their professionalism, dedication and continued commitment to providing the best possible care.”

 

 

Inspectors highlighted positive interactions between staff and patients across acute and mental health services, inclusive safety briefings, collaborative teamwork, good standards of clinical documentation and well-led wards with approachable senior nursing leadership. Inspectors found most wards to be well-led, calm and well organised. The report also recognised examples of good practice within mental health services, including high-quality documentation and incident management.

 

The report identifies concerns relating to the sustainability of the High Dependency Unit (HDU) medical model, aspects of paediatric care, staff training compliance, adverse event management and clinical governance arrangements. Healthcare Improvement Scotland also highlighted concerns regarding the consistency and reliability of some information provided during the inspection process.

 

NHS Grampian has accepted the findings and has already implemented a range of actions to address the issues identified.

 

The health board said it has taken a number of actions in response to the concerns raised, including changes to medical staffing arrangements, improvements in governance processes and work to strengthen training compliance and oversight across services.

 

The report notes that NHS Grampian has already undertaken a review of the HDU medical model at Dr Gray’s Hospital and has implemented changes to support safer and more sustainable delivery of care. It also acknowledges actions taken to strengthen arrangements for paediatric services and staff training. Healthcare Improvement Scotland has requested further assurance on progress, which NHS Grampian will continue to provide.

 

NHS Grampian will now focus on delivering its improvement action plan to address the 15 requirements and one recommendation identified within the report.