According to Professor Alice Brown, her investigation “catalogues numerous failings in nursing care” endured during two stays in Ward 6 by a man, who died aged 60 at his Selkirk home in September last year, including:

z Failure to change a dressing for eight days

z Lack of assessment which led to him being scalded with a hot cup of coffee

z A fall when he walked to the toilet unaided resulting in a head wound requiring stitches

z A delay in administering pain relief (morphine)

z Failures in communication with relatives, and

z A poor ward-cleaning regime.

The watchdog, who lodged her report at the Scottish Parliament last week, acknowledges NHS Borders later apologised to the patient’s 63-year-old widow, who complained about her husband’s treatment a month after he died.

But dissatisfied because she felt no action was being taken to minimise the risk of similar incidents for other patients, the bereaved woman – referred to in the report as Mrs C – took her case to the ombudsman.

“Because of that, I upheld the complaint and have made five recommendations to the board [of NHS Borders] in respect of future actions,” states Professor Brown.

These include an audit of cleaning at the BGH, a reminder to staff of the importance of recording patient injuries and compliance with the administration of medicines policy.

NHS Borders said yesterday it accepted all the recommendations and revealed that “a team of clinicians” was currently drawing up an action plan.

“We take every complaint very seriously… the lessons we learn are implemented across the organisation and provide us with a valuable opportunity to improve our services.”

The case relates to two stays in Ward 6 at the BGH: from September 12-20, 2006, and from April 21 to May 10, 2007.

Mrs C was concerned when her husband lost his glasses on the day of his first admission.