09-07-18 Carseview - STV

Statement from NHS Tayside 

Chairman of NHS Tayside John Brown responds to BBC on behalf of Tayside NHS Board: 

“As a Board, we are very concerned by the nature of these allegations relating to the Carseview Centre. We would very much like the opportunity to investigate all of these claims in full and therefore we would ask that the patient testimonies featured in the BBC programme are provided to us for that purpose. As you would expect, we cannot discuss individual cases in the public domain due to reasons of patient confidentiality.

“As the new chairman of NHS Tayside, I have been listening very carefully to families and patients about their experiences of mental health services and, in response, I have commissioned an independent inquiry into services in Tayside.

“To ensure a truly independent approach, the ALLIANCE – a national intermediary organisation – is already leading the involvement of patients, families, the public, the third sector and mental health charities in the inquiry. We have been clear from the beginning that we wanted to provide a public platform for the concerns of families and the public and I give everyone my assurance that all claims and allegations received will be included in the transparent body of evidence gathered by the inquiry and fully investigated.

“If anyone would prefer to come to us directly with concerns, separate from the independent inquiry, then please contact the Chief Executive of NHS Tayside, Malcolm Wright.

“We take any concerns raised with us very seriously and we want to be able to investigate people’s experiences in detail and take any appropriate action. That is why I would encourage patients to come forward and share their own stories with us. We will listen and we will act.”