AN IMPROVEMENT plan is to be enacted at NHS Forth Valley's Emergency Department, addressing recommendations from an independent review.

The update from the health board follows last month's announcement that a review around emergency department (ED) governance was commissioned by chief executive Cathie Cowan after concerns were raised by staff representatives.

NHS Forth Valley last week confirmed it has developed an improvement plan, which will not only address the recommendations from the review but will also include many additional suggestions put forward by staff.

The chief said: "There is no doubt that this is a very distressing report which raises a number of serious issues and concerns.

"However, I am pleased that staff felt confident to speak up and share their experiences as issues like these can only be tackled by listening to staff and acknowledging that these problems exist.

"Over the last few weeks, I, along with our chair, met with emergency department staff to discuss the review and any other changes or improvements staff would like to see.

"Our improvement plan therefore goes further than the review recommendations to incorporate many of the ideas, suggestions and solutions put forward by local ED staff."

Plans for improvement include the recruitment of additional clinical staff, including a senior clinical nurse manager as well as medical staff.

An induction programme is to be developed to support staff joining the department and two education facilitators will be appointed to provide training on site.

Nursing staff will be provided access to regular protected learning time to ensure they have learning opportunities similar to students and trainees.

There will be a number of other measures to address issues with the chief executive adding that a range of these can be "addressed quite quickly".