R21 Response Accepted

Nursing staff for relatives

Recommendation

Health Boards should ensure that a member of nursing staff is available to deal with questions from relatives during visiting periods.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
The Scottish Government accepted this recommendation, highlighting the Scottish Health Council's Participation Standard and the Person-centred Health and Care Collaborative. The Duty of Candour Procedure (Scotland) Regulations 2018 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2018/179/contents/made) require organisations to inform affected persons, including family members, and the Patient Rights Charter was revised in 2022 to strengthen communication requirements with relatives (Scottish Government progress update, 01 Jun 2022). The Excellence in Care framework includes Communication as a foundational requirement, informed by the experiences of Vale of Leven families (Scottish Government progress update, 01 Jun 2022).
How was this assessed?
Assessed by gemini-2.5-flash on 24 Mar 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.gov.uk, www.gov.scot, www.legislation.gov.uk, hansard.parliament.uk
This recommendation requires implementation across many organisations. The assessment reflects central policy response, not adoption in individual organisations.
Jurisdiction
Scotland
Response
Accepted
Accepted Scottish Government
18 Jun 2015

Section 4.2 of the Scottish Government's response addresses this by highlighting the Participation Standard, which the Scottish Health Council uses to monitor and drive improvement in how people are involved in the NHS, including communication. This standard enables the collection of good practice and measures how well NHS boards focus on the patient and involve the public. Furthermore, the Person-centred Health and Care Collaborative aims for 90% of service users to have a positive experience, with 'personalised contact' being a key element to improve communication.

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Published Evidence

Published assessments of implementation progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Check the source type badge to see whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.

Good Progress
01 Jun 2022
Scottish Government Other

Duty of Candour (2018) and Patient Rights Charter (revised 2022) strengthen requirements for communication with relatives. Excellence in Care framework has Communication as one of four foundational requirements identified by Vale of Leven families.

View detailed findings

Duty of Candour Procedure (Scotland) Regulations 2018 require organisations to inform affected persons including family members. Patient Advice and Support Service provides independent support.

Scottish Government Duty of Candour policy View Source
Source
Inquiry Vale of Leven Inquiry
Report The Vale of Leven Hospital Inquiry Report 24 Nov 2014
View Source
Responsible Bodies
NHS Health Boards (Scotland) Primary
Themes & Tags
No person-centred care Care home social isolation Communication Nursing
Recommendation age 11.3 yrs
Last formal update 3933 days ago