A First for NHS Scotland – NHS Forth Valley Wins bronze

Hospital & Healthcare Management / Healthcare Press release / IQPC Australia , Sydney, 25th October 2010: With the increased investment from federal government on healthcare spending to improve quality and models of care throughout all healthcare institutes; it is critical your knowledge and expertise is consistent with overseas facilities as well as those within Australia.

NHS Forth Valley has become the first NHS Board in Scotland to achieve the prestigious Investors in People standard at the Bronze level. The accolade has been achieved in recognition of excellence in the way staff are involved, developed and managed.

The award was presented to the Chairman of NHS Forth Valley, Ian Mullen, by the Chief Executive of Investors in People Scotland, Peter Russian. Mr. Russian commented “NHS Forth Valley clearly understand that investment in new buildings and technology must go hand in hand with investment in the people who work there. There are challenging times ahead for the whole of the public sector, and NHS Forth Valley is showing the way in recognizing that good leadership and people management isn’t an optional extra for managing change, it’s a pre-requisite.”

NHS Forth Valley is a Scottish health system with an annual budget of £450 million, employs 8,000 staff, and provides services for 300,000 people. The new Forth Valley Royal Hospital occupies 1 million square feet and has 4,000 rooms. It is full of innovative design features and has involved a great deal of patient/public consultation as well as clinical staff design involvement. Part of this innovation involves the use of robots to carry out the delivery of functional tasks such as moving linen, meals and clinical waste. Because this is a new build hospital, these laser-guided robots operate in a network of corridors that are completely separate from those used by patients, visitors and staff.

NHS Forth Valley, Scotland will feature at the Australian Healthcare Week in February 2011 and deliver a project case study on the award-winning Forth Valley Hospital. The conference will provide a single platform uniting the entire healthcare industry to share ideas, concepts and strategies on how to overcome your shared obstacles.