NHS Grampian is preparing to put forward three separate plans to the Scottish Government on how it intends to care for elderly and vulnerable people in Moray.
The move comes as the interim Chief Executive of the health board prepares to meet with Moray MSP Richard Lochhead today to discuss issues raised by NHS staff and constituents at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin.
A new approach by NHS Grampian will seek to tackle pressing issues including ‘bed blocking’, where patients remain in hospital because they are not in receipt of a local authority care package that would allow them to return to their own homes.
NHS Grampian board member in Moray, Jonathan Passmore, said: “We should acknowledge the amount of work that has gone into getting us to this stage. We are taking a leap in the dark – it is as perfect as it can be at this stage and we should not beat ourselves up about these imperfections at this stage.
“We need reassurance from the executive team that it is the basis for delivering change.”
Another Moray board member, David Anderson, insists that the new direction delivers services and not just red tape, warning that care needs to be taken to ensure more bureaucracy is not created rather than better health services.
Richard Lochhead arranged the meeting today after talks with the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Shona Robison, over concerns that Dr Gray’s did not “lose priority” after issues were raised in the Healthcare Improvement Scotland report on NHS Grampian last year.
The MSP said: “My meeting with the Health Secretary and her senior officials was very helpful and I hopefully managed to convey the need for NHS Grampian, with Scottish Government support, to ensure that issues facing Dr Gray’s are prioritised by the new management regime in NHS Grampian.”