Latest news with #NinewellsHospital
The Courier
02-06-2025
- General
- The Courier
Ninewells worker hits out at 'ridiculous congestion' during 6-week closure of Dundee road
A Ninewells Hospital worker has hit out at 'ridiculous congestion' caused by a six-week road closure in Dundee. A section of Old Liff Road is shut for six weeks of work on a new footpath, connecting to homes at Dykes of Gray. Birkhill resident Judith Strachan works in a lab at Ninewells and says the closure caused 45-minute queues on Coupar Angus Road, between the village and Camperdown, at peak times last week. The clinical scientist says drivers have faced a 'ridiculous amount of congestion' on the road to and from the Angus village. Several other residents have taken to a Facebook group to complain about the delays. She told The Courier: 'Nobody knew it was happening, so last Monday morning I went to turn down the road and it was closed. 'We have got a community Facebook page and I put up a post, and a lot of people were saying the same thing. 'It is causing a lot of angst and we didn't know anything about it – there were no notifications as far as I can tell. 'It is causing massive disruption. Could it not be done at night or at the weekend? 'There is a lot of frustration in Birkhill and it must be causing frustration for the bus companies.' The road is shut from the junction with Myrekirk Road to its junction with Gourdie Brae while the work is carried out. The closure, which has another five weeks to run, is being lifted on weekends and put back in place each Monday. The official diversion is via the Swallow Roundabout, despite issues at that junction after the installation of new lights and markings. Other drivers affected by the Old Liff Road closure have branded the delays 'horrendous' and a 'nightmare'. A Dundee City Council spokesperson said: 'The works are being carried out by Dundee City Council to create a link between Myrekirk and the western villages. 'The Western Gateway community have recently constructed a pedestrian path from Dykes of Gray Road to Liff Road and this footpath will complete that link. 'The road is closed for the safety of workers at what is a busy location. 'The road closure will be removed for the weekend and will be put back on Monday. 'Dundee City Council would like to take this opportunity to thank drivers for their continued patience while these works are taking place.'
BBC News
16-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Public inquiry into brain surgeon Eljamel spends £1m before hearing any evidence
More than £1m has been spent on a public inquiry into a disgraced brain surgeon that has not started hearing evidence yet, new figures inquiry into Sam Eljamel, who harmed dozens of patients and left some with life-changing injuries, was launched last month and has racked up £1.08m in costs so was head of neurosurgery at Dundee's Ninewells Hospital until his suspension in December 2013. He resigned a year later and is now believed to be operating in inquiry outlay was revealed by Holyrood's finance committee which is investigating the cost-effectiveness of public inquiries in Scotland. New Scottish parliament research suggests the total cost of all public inquires launched over the last 18 years, in today's prices, has been £230m so 20 May, MSPs will begin their examination of what spending controls are in place to ensure the taxpayer is getting value for money from the statutory will hear from Prof Sandy Cameron, who was a panel member on the inquiry into historic abuse of children in care in Jersey. In his written submission, Prof Cameron said keeping on top of legal costs are a big challenge for all said: "It has to be recognised that inquiries are a source of substantial income for some large legal firms and as such the question arises as to the extent to which they are motivated to keep costs to a minimum and within budget". The finance committee will also consider a written submission from the logistics and procurement support agency of the health service, NHS National Services Scotland (NSS).In its submission, NHS NSS said the "current processes for monitoring public inquiry costs are inadequate" and revealed it has spent £3.1m in responding to public inquiries, as well as providing around £9m in legal services to other health boards for doing the same since 2021. The health board suggest the introduction of mandatory interim recommendations in all public inquiries, as happens in the UK Covid inquiry, would help speed up improvements. NHS NSS also suggest that an independent advisory body could be established to support Holyrood in deciding whether a public inquiry should be held, and the best way to go about it. New Zealand approach Alternatives to statutory inquires should also be considered, according to NHS points to New Zealand where a Royal Commission was established to look at the country's response to Covid. This was chaired by an epidemiologist, with a former government minister and a treasury secretary as panel members, rather than a New Zealand Covid inquiry, which has cost around £7m so far, started in 2022 and its terms of reference include a deadline of completing by February next year. The Scottish Covid Inquiry has cost £34m so far and the UK Covid Inquiry is expected to top £200m. Questions have been raised about the cost-effectiveness of the inquiries in recent years but the Scottish government, which picks up the bill for running them, said they provided important opportunities to establish facts and learn of the current public inquires have been supported in votes at Holyrood, as well as by families and campaigners. The Eljamel Inquiry, headed by Lord Weir, launched its terms of reference last month and is expected to begin full hearings later this inquiry will determine whether patients were let down by failures in clinical governance, risk management, and complaints procedures, and to what extent Eljamel's private practice, research, and workload impacted on the care received by his patients within NHS Weir said the independent inquiry would be "fair and thorough" and put patients "at the centre" of the of the inquiry's costs to date have gone on staffing (£666,949) and legal services (£316,035).
The Courier
16-05-2025
- General
- The Courier
Thomas McCabe: Ninewells porter, B&Q greeter and Dundee North End football man, dies aged 87
There's not many people who can claim they once drove a tank down Lochee High Street, but Thomas 'Tam' McCabe was one of them! The Dundee man, who was well known as a porter at Ninewells Hospital, a 'meeter and greeter' at B&Q and a lifelong supporter and organiser of grassroots football, is being warmly remembered following his death aged 87. Tam passed away peacefully following a battle with vascular dementia and Alzheimer's. Despite his diagnosis, his sense of humour remained intact to the end, as did his devotion to his large, close-knit family. Born in Dundee on March 24 1937, Tam was one of 10 children to Peter and Kathleen McCabe. He attended St Mary's Primary School and later St John's High School. After leaving school, he held a variety of jobs including with Harry Scott Glaziers, as a lifeguard at Dundee Swimming Baths, and at engineering firm Bell & Sime. He was called up for National Service and served in the Royal Air Force, stationed at RAF Cosford. His time in the RAF remained a regular feature of his storytelling. In particular, he told tales of flying Chipmunk aircraft, undergoing survival training in the Pyrenees, and even driving a tank down Lochee High Street. This all delighted his grandchildren. The survival training was to come in handy on one occasion, however. While trying to fix the roof on his shed, he fell off the ladder and gave himself an 'affy bump'. His only comment after that was that it could have been a lot worse had he not remembered how to do his 'commando roll to save himself'. In his post-service years, Tam worked at Ninewells Hospital as a porter before semi-retiring. Unsuited to a quiet life, he later took a job at B&Q as a greeter, becoming a well-known and warmly regarded presence until his final retirement at the age of 80. Tam met his wife Barbara in his early 20s, under circumstances the family fondly remembers as fate. He was originally supposed to meet her friend. But when she didn't turn up, Barbara stepped in to break the news. They went to the cinema instead – and never looked back. The couple were married for 67 years, receiving congratulatory letters from both Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III. They had four children: Barbara Jr., Helen, Tracey, and Tommy. A passionate football man, Tam co-managed the Butterburn Youths team in the Dundee juvenile leagues with his friend David Stewart. He remained deeply involved in the sport throughout his life, closely following the careers of his son-in-law Gus and grandsons Nikki, Gary, and Owen at clubs including Cowdenbeath, Brechin City, St Andrews United, Downfield, Lochee United, and Dundee North End. His son Tam McCabe Jr. told The Courier: 'There will be a cup in the juvenile league next season in memory of dad. At this point we don't know which age group yet' In later years, Dundee North End JFC became Tam's spiritual football home. Saturdays were often spent at the games followed by a couple of pints and post-match banter with players and staff. This frequently required a family member to collect him from the club long after full-time. Tam was also a devoted Hibernian fan and counted their 2016 Scottish Cup win as one of his proudest football moments. He was proud of all his grandchildren, but always said his proudest moment was his experience watching his granddaughter Shaney McCabe represent Scotland at international level. In his final days, Tam was surrounded by family, including his sister Betty – his last surviving sibling – and sister-in-law Helen, watching old cowboy films and his beloved Laurel and Hardy. After his passing on January 20, the family discovered that Tam was a cousin of two former Celtic FC players. They were Johnny Crum who won league titles in the 1930s, and club legend Jimmy McGrory, still Celtic's all-time top goal scorer with 522 goals from 501 games. Tam is survived by his wife Barbara, children Barbara Jr., Helen, Tracey, and Tommy, grandchildren Gordon, Nikki, Linzi, Charli, Owen, and Shaney, and great-grandchildren Jack and Lilly. He was predeceased by siblings Peter, Jimmy, Robert, Billy, Daniel, Patrick, Kathleen, and Sadie.
The Courier
15-05-2025
- Health
- The Courier
Woman taken to hospital after being injured on slide at Dundee Funparx
A woman was taken to hospital after being injured on a slide at a Dundee family activity centre. The Scottish Ambulance Service was called to Funparx Dundee, off Balunie Drive, on Friday evening. A section of the park was closed while staff and paramedics dealt with the incident. The woman had landed on an inflatable surface and was advised not to move until her injuries were assessed. She was taken to Ninewells Hospital. Former Ninja Warrior UK contestant Ali Hay is behind Funparx. He commented: 'We opened four weeks ago near enough to the day and have had over 16,000 users on that slide, and have used it multiple times. 'We looked after the customer in every way possible. 'Our main priority was to make sure she was safe. When any incident happens involving an airbag bag we have to advise the person not to move. 'She followed our advice, and we called the paramedics. 'We gave our customers who were unable to use the area due to the incident an extra half hour for their session as we had to take it slow. 'The team did a great job. While we don't want any of our customers to be hurt, we have to do our best when it does happen and I am happy with how the team responded. 'The ambulance service gave good feedback to the team and the paramedics were great; we are really grateful for them.' A spokesperson for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: 'We received a call at 5.32pm on Friday to attend an incident on Balunie Drive in Dundee. 'We dispatched one ambulance to the scene and transported one female patient to Ninewells.' Funparx Dundee opened in the old Fun Factory in Douglas last month.
BBC News
15-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Patient safety concerns found at Scottish maternity unit
Staffing shortages and delays in assessing expectant mums are among a series of patient safety concerns found with maternity services at Dundee's Ninewells concerns were identified during the first of a new programme of unannounced inspections of maternity units by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS).The safety watchdog, which also praised frontline staff for their compassionate care, made 20 requirements for improvement at Ninewells. NHS Tayside said it had taken on board all of the recommendations and developed action plans to address them. There have not been any routine inspections of maternity units in Scotland until now, although they have been included in wider hospital inspections or been subject to specific introduction of routine, unannounced inspections was one of the key recommendations of an independent review that followed a spike in the deaths of newborn Ninewells inspection took place in January but inspectors made an unscheduled second visit the following month because of the immediacy of their concerns. The inspectors found:Delays within the maternity triage department and a variation in how women were assessed by staffStaff unsure of both the location of the emergency medication for birthing and the process for accessing itDelays to the induction of labour process of up to 72 hours for some patientsEquipment missing leads meaning only three of five fetal heartbeat monitors were in full working order across the unit's five labour roomsA 33% shortfall in the number of more experienced midwifes required with evidence that newly qualified midwives were stepping in to fill this gap Elsewhere in the HIS inspection report it was revealed that staff training was under pressure due to the maternity unit's workload and high levels of sick leave. Inspectors also found a disconnect between staff and senior managers regarding staffing and patient safety issues, with some workers telling them it was "challenging to always maintain patient safety when [the] skill mix within the team was not optimal". The maternity services inspection for Ninewells resulted in nine areas of good practice being identified, three recommendations and 20 requirements. 'Immediate improvement' required Donna Maclean, chief inspector at HIS, said: "During our inspection of the maternity services we saw staff providing compassionate and responsive care to women and their families and women we spoke with were complimentary of the care provided."However, as a result of concerns identified during our inspection, that required immediate improvement, we carried out an unannounced revisit."The concerns related to variation in practice to assessing women within maternity triage and to staff access and awareness of retrieval of emergency medication within the maternity triage department."She added: "Other areas for improvement include assurance of safe staffing, fire safety issues and the maintenance of the hospital environment."Maternity units in England are already inspected by an independent watchdog and in 2023 it was found that two thirds were not safe enough. 'Positive, good practice' NHS Tayside's Executive Nurse Director, Simon Dunn, said the report highlighted areas of "positive, good practice" and standards of care which patients and their families have recognised as "extremely positive".He added: "We will always embrace the opportunity to participate in improvement initiatives and receive feedback on the standards of care we deliver."Our clinical teams have taken on board all of the recommendations and developed action plans to address these. "Safe standards of care are at the heart of everything we do and therefore we have ensured our action plans keep our patients at the centre of our improvement work."
