NHS Facts

Six figure salaries

The basic annual salaries of NHS Fife directors (Annual Accounts 2012):

• £170,000 – Dr Brian Montgomery, Medical Director
• £165,000 – Dr Edward Coyle, Director of Public Health
• £150,000 – Mr John Wilson, Chief Executive
• £115,000 – Ms Anne Buchanan, Nurse Director

Weak leadership

1. Higher than average death rates at Queen Margaret Hospital (read more).
2. Poor accident and emergency performance. Highest percentage of delayed discharges in mainland Scotland (read more). 93 fit patients die awaiting hospital release in Fife (read more).
3. Incompetent management of Fife's Community Health Partnerships (read more).
4. Cancer target missed (read more).
5. Poor management at Victoria Hospital (read more)...(and more). Shortage of nurses at Victoria Hospital (read more). Travel problems at Victorial Hospital (read more).
6. Weak budgetary controls: Highest cost provider in primary care in Scotland (read more). Highest GP prescribing costs in Scotland (read more). NHS Fife overspends by £3.28m (read more). NHS Fife overspends by £2.4m (read more). Weak controls over contract consultant fees (read more). Budget 'shambles' in operational division (read more).
7. Inspectors find Victoria and Queen Margaret hospitals unhygienic (read more).
8. Weak leadership: annual review criticised (read more).
9. Highest compensation claims in Scotland (read more). Delayed inquiries and medical negligence (read more). Care failings at Queen Margaret Hospital (read more). Failure to investigate abnormal test results (read more).
10. Long dental waiting lists and high treatment costs (read more).
11. Incompetent public consultations. Lack of transparency about A&E services (read more). Public kept in the dark over changes to services (read more). Breaking up the patients' forum (read more).
12. Incompetent management: missed clinic appointments rise year on year in Fife (read more).
13. High staff absenteeism (read more).

Ageism

The NHS does not treat all patients equally. Some NHS trusts are institutionally ageist:

• NHS ageism 'stopping elderly getting cancer treatment'
• Old people ‘not safe’ in Scottish hospitals, nurses say
• NHS ageism 'harming elderly care'
• Care of elderly criticised

Cancer patients beware

Cancer patients in particular are often discriminated against:

• You’re seeking attention, GPs tell young cancer victims
• Cancer patients who are young, female or from an ethnic minority face a longer wait to be diagnosed and referred to a cancer specialist.
• Breast cancer victims face NHS ageism, campaigners claim
• Elderly women are dying needlessly from breast cancer because it is diagnosed too late.
• Older women 'denied breast cancer treatment'
• Elderly people are being denied cancer surgery because NHS doctors are reluctant to operate on them. 
• Elderly cancer treatment 'shame'

Nursing care

Poor nursing care is common in the NHS:

• Nurses 'are losing their sense of compassion’.
• RCN Conference: Nurses' compassion 'as important as skills'.
• Elderly are humiliated by nurses.

Weekend staff availability

• Patients are more likely to die in hospital if they are admitted at the weekend: one of the most important reasons is that there are fewer doctors available.
• Nine to five culture in NHS has devastating impact.
• Juniors doctors told to do operations they are not trained for: survey.
• Patients are 40 per cent more likely to die if admitted at the weekend: London University study.

A&E patients more likely to die on bank holidays

• Patients admitted to hospital as emergency cases on public holidays are significantly more likely to die than those admitted on other days of the week – including weekends – a major Scottish study has revealed.

The 'killing season'

• Each year, the first Wednesday in August sees more than 6,000 newly qualified doctors start their careers in medicine. It coincides with a 6% increase in death rates.
• Sir Bruce Keogh, the Medical Director of the NHS, admits that patients are at risk during this period.