Health board at risk

NHS Dumfries and Galloway currently has a ‘corporate risk register’, which details areas where the health authority is struggling to deliver public services due to various pressures – and the potential serious consequences. This register currently has 16 risks recorded, six of which are categorised as very high. These include the risk of failure to properly staff the neonatal unit to national standards, potentially “resulting in suboptimal care” within the unit. There are ongoing serious concerns around access to dental services, meeting financial targets amid the record deficit of £58m, and the risk that the health board “will not improve the health and wellbeing of our population”. The series of risks were discussed at NHS Dumfries and Galloway’s bi-monthly meeting on Monday. Mark Cook, chairman of the health board, said: “I’m asking in the 12-24 month frame, do we have a plan or expectation that any of these are likely to change? “So, risk of our sectors of our population experience health inequalities is very high. I mean, that’s a public health one. “If we’re looking forward two years, will that still be very high do we think?” Valerie White, the region’s director of public health, replied: “I think probably, yes. The current position that we are in, coupled with the cost of living crisis, means that is going to remain high. “There’s the financial position we are in as well, with some really difficult decisions we’re having to make as an organisation. “So that’s going to remain at the same level, I can’t see it decreasing. “We’ll mitigate as much as we can, but I don’t see that decreasing in the short to medium term.” David Rowland, director of strategic planning and transformation, said: “I would agree, and that applies across many of the risks. It’s a really challenging time for us. “What we need to have more visibility around is the mitigation that sits behind these risks, and the board members being assured that those mitigations are appropriate – and we’re going as far as we can to bring down the level of risk. “I think switching the focus from the risks themselves onto the mitigations is probably a helpful thing for us to do.”