The Scottish Government could have taken action sooner to resolve problems at the north-east’s flagship hospital, nursing leaders have claimed.
Ellen Hudson, associate director of The Royal College of Nursing, said it had been raising “serious concerns” about the situation at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for some time.
“The report paints a picture of a board which was unaware of the problems at ARI and which made decisions with insufficient evidence or data to inform those decisions,” she added.
“The Scottish Government should have recognised the problems earlier and taken action to address them.
“It knew NHS Grampian consistently missed targets on treatment time guarantees, cancer waiting times and bed blocking.
“Surely this should have set alarm bells ringing in government and prompted them to take action sooner?”
Professor Derek Bell, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said managers and clinicians must now work together to ensure that leadership and professionalism was at the heart of hospitals.
“It is apparent that the current managerial system is not fit for purpose and in order to move forward, the recommendations in the reviews should be implemented and absorbed as a matter of urgency,” he added.
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the General Medical Council, said it was considering the need to take further action against doctors who have been accused of unprofessional conduct.
“The individual behaviours and the systemic failures described in the report are completely unacceptable,” he added.
A spokeswoman for the British Medical Association Scotland said it was reassuring that overall outcomes and quality of patient care at ARI had not suffered despite “cultural and organisational problems”.