Question reference: S6W-26918
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 19 April 2024
-
Current status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 April 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS Scotland regarding how NHS boards record complaints about food provision to patients during hospital stays.
Answer
Operational guidance regarding the provision of food is provided to Boards from Health Facilities Scotland (a division of National Services Scotland). Boards carry out quality assurance activity of their catering services through several mechanisms. Patient Experience Surveys are used in all boards, through a variety of methods, and include questions on national measures of quality (which are reported annually to Health Facilities Scotland), alongside additional questions included by the board. Mealtime observations, where the ward service is observed and measured against several topic areas, are used to help to identify areas for improvement. However, some boards do not currently carry out these types of audits. All feedback should be reviewed by the service and used to measure the quality of the service from the patient’s perspective, helping to identify areas for improvement.
Patient Feedback should be considered at several forums, including at the board’s Strategic Hydration and Nutritional Care Group or Food, Fluid and Nutrition Group meetings.
Where patients have complaints, Boards are encouraged to utilise the NHS Complaints Handling Procedure. Where suitable, Boards are encouraged to resolve straightforward complaints at the earliest opportunity, however where this is not possible complaints can be escalated to an investigation stage.