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Found 103 results
  1. Content Article
    This letter from Dr Robert Farley, President of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) to Karen Reid, the Chief Executive Officer of NHS Education for Scotland (NES) highlights that lack of funding for Clinical Scientist training places is putting patient safety in Scotland at risk. Dr Farley says, "We understand NHS Education for Scotland are proposing funding that equates to less than a single training post in medical physics and clinical engineering in 2023. ‘This is despite the Scottish Government's Chief Healthcare Science Officer’s public acknowledgement of the importance of training. "Scotland currently has a 10 per cent Clinical Scientist vacancy rate across the medical physics specialisms. This equates to seven vacancies in radiotherapy, three in nuclear medicine, four in diagnostic radiology and radiation protection. These posts are critical to supporting diagnostics and cancer treatments."
  2. News Article
    NHS leaders in Scotland have discussed abandoning the founding principles of the service by having the wealthy pay for treatment. The discussion of a "two-tier" health service is mentioned in draft minutes of a meeting of NHS Scotland health board chief executives in September. They also raise the possibility of curtailing some free prescriptions. Scotland's Health Secretary Humza Yousaf insisted the NHS would stay publicly owned and publicly operated. He added that health services "must always" be based on individual patient need and "any suggestion" that it should be about the ability to pay was "abhorrent". The minutes of the meeting seen by BBC News highlight the degree of official concern about the sustainability of Scotland's NHS in its present form. They include suggestions that hospitals should change their appetite for risk by aiming to send patients home more quickly, and pause the funding of some new drugs. The group were advised that they had been given the "green light to present what boards feel reform may look like" and that "areas which were previously not viable options are now possibilities". Describing a "billion pound hole" in the budget, the minutes warn that it "is not possible to continue to run the range of programmes" the NHS currently offers while remaining safe "and doing no harm." And they warn that: "Unscheduled care is going to fall over in the near term before planned care falls over." Read full story Source: BBC News, 21 November 2022
  3. News Article
    GP surgeries across Scotland are at risk of collapsing because of staff shortages and increased demand, a senior doctor has warned. Dr Andrew Buist, chairman of the British Medical Association's (BMA) Scottish GP committee, told the BBC many practices were at "tipping point". More than a third of surveyed surgeries reported at least one GP vacancy – up from just over a quarter last year. About half of the GP surgeries in Scotland took part in the BMA survey. It showed 81% of practices said demand was exceeding capacity - with 42% saying demand substantially exceeded capacity. Dr Buist told BBC Scotland: "I worry that we're reaching a tipping point for some practices. "They lose one or maybe two doctors out of three, and the remaining doctors cannot continue so they return the contract and the practice may cease to exist. "That is a real concern in some parts of Scotland that that is happening and it's going to happen increasingly as the situation develops over this winter." Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 November 2022
  4. News Article
    The number of falls and bed sores recorded in Scotland's hospitals has increased since the Covid pandemic, new data shows. NHS staffing pressures and the deconditioning effect of the Covid lockdown creating more frail patients are being blamed for the rise. The Scottish government paused work on a national prevention strategy for falls when the pandemic started. The strategy has now been shelved and experts argue this is a mistake. Figures released by NHS Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) show that in 2018-19 - the last full year before the Covid pandemic - a total of 26,489 falls were recorded in hospitals. Dawn Skelton, a professor in ageing and health at Glasgow Caledonian University, said there was a "maelstrom" of problems fuelling the increase in hospital falls. She said: "You've got staffing issues definitely but you've also got people who are going in to hospital a step change frailer than they were pre-Covid because of what has happened with all the restrictions. "The people in these falls figures have got no reserves, blow on them and they will fall over, so they are at more risk when they go in." IProf Skelton said it was time to resurrect the Scottish government's falls and fracture prevention strategy as its "value now cannot be underestimated". She added: "Falls and frailty are one of the main causes of long hospital stays and demands on social care and without a spotlight on both the management, but also prevention, the financial and staffing demands on NHS and social care will only rise." Read full story Source: BBC News, 10 November 2022
  5. News Article
    The health board in the Scottish Borders has said it is monitoring "unseasonably high" numbers of scarlet fever cases in the region. Parents have been asked to be aware of the symptoms so that early treatment with antibiotics can be given. Scarlet fever is a bacterial illness that mainly affects children under 10 but people of any age can get it. NHS Borders said it would usually clear up after about a week but anyone who thinks they or a child may have it has been asked to contact a GP for a proper diagnosis and appropriate treatment. "Due to the contagious nature of scarlet fever, if you or your child has the illness, please stay at home for at least 24 hours after starting treatment with antibiotics," it added. Read full story Source: BBC News, 7 November 2022
  6. News Article
    The largest expansion of medical training posts has been announced the day after Scotland’s health secretary warned that the NHS was facing up to its most challenging winter. Humza Yousaf yesterday confirmed that 152 more places for trainee doctors would be created next year. He hailed it as the “most significant increase in medical training places to date” and an increase on the 139 places created last year. The announcement comes after ministers were urged to fund the creation of additional training places in key specialities including general practice, core psychiatry, oncology, emergency medicine, intensive care medicine and anaesthetics. “These additional training places highlight the Scottish government’s continued commitment to ensure that our health service is resilient and can continue delivering high quality care to those who need it,” Yousaf said. “This record expansion will support a wide range of medical specialties, many of which are under increased pressure as a result of growing demand. “We will continue to monitor the number of available training places in collaboration with NHS Education for Scotland to help make sure the NHS is equipped to meet the country’s current and future needs.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 1 November 2022
  7. News Article
    Scotland's NHS is in "a perilous situation" amid a staffing and funding crisis, according to the chairman of the doctors' union. Dr Iain Kennedy said urgent action was needed to tackle workload pressures ahead of a potentially "terrifying" winter period. It comes after Scotland's health secretary Humza Yousaf admitted NHS Scotland was not performing well. Mr Yousaf told BBC Scotland it would take at least five years to fix. Dr Kennedy, who is chairman of the industry body BMA Scotland, said it was good to hear Mr Yousaf being honest about the scale of the problems, but added that "frankly we cannot wait five years" for things to improve. He told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme: "The NHS in Scotland is in a perilous situation and we have a particular crisis around the workforce - we simply do not have enough doctors in general practice and in hospitals. "We need more urgent action because the pressures and the workload have really shot up." Dr Kennedy has called on the government to publish a "heat map" showing where NHS vacancies are unfilled across Scotland. He said: "The public need to see transparency on where the vacancies are. We think that there are probably 15% vacancies across hospital consultant posts across Scotland. "Even the government admits to 7% and that we are at least 800 GPs short in Scotland - and I, and others, suspect we are probably well over that figure now." Read full story Source: BBC News, 31 October 2022
  8. News Article
    Staff at accident and emergency departments across Scotland have expressed “deep concern” at the daily “excessively long waiting times” that are forcing a record number of patients to wait more than 12 hours, according to a leading NHS consultant. Dr John-Paul Loughrey, vice-chair of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland national board, warned that while such long waits were once regarded as “never events,” they are now daily occurrences. Amid fears the delays will spike significantly over the winter months, especially with another wave of Covid-19 expected, Dr Loughrey said staff were already “burned out,” “exhausted,” and “overwhelmed with a system facing increasing strain.” The latest weekly data on A&E treatment shows that in the week ending 2 October, the number of patients waiting more than 12 hours had soared by 45% week-on-week. “There is deep concern among staff around the excessively long waiting times,” Dr Loughrey said. “The weekly data that show significant increases in long waits translates to real patients on the ground or in the community who are seeking urgent and emergency care. “The system is failing them. We know that long waiting times are associated with patient harm and even death. Staff face moral injury daily, but they are working incredibly hard and doing all they can to minimise this harm to patients.” Read full story Source: The Scotsman, 16 October 2022
  9. Content Article
    The Scottish Government has published a new Bill to establish a Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland. This article provides an overview of the remit, accountability, powers, and responsibilities of the new Commissioner that are proposed in this Bill.
  10. Content Article
    Realistic Medicine is Scotland's approach to a sustainable health and social care system. The Realistic Medicine Podcast shares the stories, experiences and projects of teams and communities across Scotland. In this episode, Dr Graham Kramer, National Clinical Lead for Self Management and Health Literacy, talks about health literacy and the importance of people being able to understand and engage in their own health and healthcare.
  11. News Article
    Healthcare Improvement Scotland have been commissioned to lead a review into the neonatal death rates. It follows the higher than expected deaths in both March 2022 and September last year, as published by Public Health Scotland. At least 18 babies under four weeks old died in March – a rate of 4.6 per 1,000 births. The wider inquiry is understood to have been triggered because the mortality rate passed an "upper control" threshold of 4.4 per 1,000 births. The average mortality rate among newborns is just over 2 per 1,000 births. The Scottish Government said the investigation is expected to take no longer than six to nine months once the review team is formed. Public health minister Maree Todd said: “Every death is a tragedy for the families involved. That is why earlier this year I committed to this review to find out if there is a reason for the increase. “I appreciate how difficult this time is for anyone affected and I would encourage them to access support if they wish to do so. There is information about organisations and help available on the National Bereavement Care Pathways Scotland as well as the Scottish Government website.” Read full story Source: The Scotsman, 30 September 2022
  12. Content Article
    Acute prescribing forms a large part of the daily workload for GP practices. Quality improvement (QI) methodology can be used to help improve prescribing processes and ensure that prescribing work is managed by the right member of your team, safely and effectively. This toolkit is designed to help primary care multidisciplinary teams, including pharmacotherapy services, safely improve their acute prescribing processes in line with the Essentials of Safe Care. An acute prescription is defined as any prescription without a serial or repeat mandate.
  13. News Article
    Scotland’s health services are failing to tackle a mental health crisis affecting thousands of people with drug or alcohol problems because the right policies are not being followed, an expert body has found. The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland, a statutory body founded to protect the human rights of people with mental illness, said only a minority of health professionals were using the correct strategies and plans for at-risk patients. Dr Arun Chopra, its medical director, said there had been a “collective failure” to act: few local services were using the correct procedures despite so much evidence about the scale of Scotland’s drugs and alcohol problems. Nearly four in five of those professionals said their patients were not given the documented care plans required by national policy. Of the 89 family doctors interviewed, 90% had experienced difficulties referring patients to mental health services or addiction services. In some cases, mental health services then rejected patients because they were addicts, without helping them find the right support. The commission recommended far clearer policies, protocols, auditing and monitoring by health boards and the Scottish government, with better training for professionals. Health workers needed to stop stigmatising patients and see patients as people affected by trauma. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 September 2022
  14. News Article
    Performance on waiting times targets at Scotland's hospital A&E units has hit a new low. Figures for the week ending 11 September showed just 63.5% of patients were dealt with within four hours. Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said the figures were "not acceptable" and he was determined to improve performance. Scottish Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said the figures showed the "crisis in A&E is not merely continuing, but deepening". The Scottish government target is that 95% of patients attending A&E are seen and subsequently admitted or discharged within four hours. Doctors working in emergency medicine have issued stark warnings recently about the impact of long waits in A&E. It is simply not safe, and patients are dying as a result, they say. Read full story Source: BBC News, 20 September 2022
  15. Event
    until
    This national learning event will bring together clinical and improvement leaders involved or interested in the Scottish Patient Safety Programme. Aims of the day: Explore the organisational and system wide conditions that enable the safe delivery of care amidst increasing system pressures Learn how The SPSP Essentials of Safe Care are supporting improvements in safety Provide a forum for leaders and teams working across all aspects of SPSP to come together to share and learn This event page is for delegates wishing to attend the morning plenary sessions only as a virtual delegate. Agenda: 10:00 - Chair’s Welcome (Professor Sir Gregor Smith, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, Scottish Government) 10:10 - Ministerial Address (Maree Todd, Member of the Scottish Parliament & Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport) 10:25 - SPSP Update (Joanne Matthews, Head of Improvement Support & Safety, Healthcare Improvement Scotland) 10:40 - Plenary Session (Professor Mary Dixon-Woods, Director of THIS Institute & The Health Foundation Professor at the University of Cambridge) 11:25 - Plenary Q&A 11:40 - A System View (Robbie Pearson, Chief Executive, Healthcare Improvement Scotland) 11:50 - Chair’s Summary ((Professor Sir Gregor Smith, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, Scottish Government) Register
  16. News Article
    Watchdogs have been asked to investigate a Scottish government overhaul of NHS waiting times information after surgeons said that some of the figures were “grossly misleading”. A complaint has been made to the Office for Statistics Regulation, which ensures that important public data is trustworthy, about a new guide for patients on the NHS Inform website. Concerns have also been raised with Audit Scotland, which monitors public spending and NHS performance. Last month Humza Yousaf, Scottish health secretary, unveiled the platform claiming that it would reassure patients about waiting times. But the times given reflect only the experience of patients treated over a three-month period. In orthopaedics, surgeons say, only the most urgent cases are being prioritised while some patients face languishing on waiting lists for years due to lack of capacity. NHS Inform says that people waited a median of 26 weeks between April and June for orthopaedic care, but surgeons argue that this gives a false impression. Dr Iain Kennedy, new chairman of the British Medical Association in Scotland, said the way the figures have been compiled would suggest that people are still not getting a realistic picture of delays. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 16 September 2022
  17. Content Article
    Poor and ambiguous medication recording is a common issue identified by the Care Inspectorate during inspections or complaints activity. This guidance aims to support care staff working in residential care services who record medication administration and develop personal plans, by giving common sense guidance on medication recording and personal plans.
  18. Content Article
    For the first time since the 1990s, the Surgeons’ Hall Museums in Edinburgh has displayed a new pathology specimen—a transvaginal tape removed in April 2022 from a woman suffering complications of vaginal tape (or mesh) surgery performed in 2006. In this blog Louise Wilkie, the museums' Curator, explains how the device came to be displayed, the history of vaginal tape surgery and the controversy surrounding its introduction and regulation. She also highlights concerns about the subsequent treatment of women who experienced life-changing complications as a result of the procedure.
  19. Content Article
    This is the report of an employment tribunal concerning claimant Terence Burke, who was employed as a caretaker for the charity Turning Point Scotland. The tribunal ruled that Mr Burke was a disabled person within the meaning of s6 of the Equality Act 2010, and therefore unfairly dismissed by Turning Point Scotland in August 2021. The tribunal found that Mr Burke was disabled as he was suffering from Long Covid. This is the first case of Long Covid being classed as a disability in an employment tribunal and the ruling is likely to have implications on future cases concerning employees with Long Covid.
  20. Content Article
    Information on waiting times for local health boards and specialties in Scotland. This site shows information on waiting times for planned (elective) care. This site does not show information for emergency (unscheduled) care. The statistics shown here relate only to any treatment as an inpatient or day case covered by the Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG). A small number of specialist treatments are not covered by the TTG.
  21. News Article
    The Scottish government has signed a contract to allow NHS patients to visit a US expert for mesh removal surgery. Patients can book appointments with Dr Dionysios Veronikis in Missouri with their travel and accommodation costs paid for by the NHS. The cost of each procedure is estimated to be £16,000 to £23,000. Transvaginal implant use was stopped in Scotland after hundreds of women were left with painful, life-changing side effects. NHS National Services Scotland said it would work with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and local health boards to take forward arrangements for those who wish to travel to the US for the procedure. Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: "I fully understand that women want mesh removal surgery undertaken by surgeons who enjoy their full confidence and a range of measures are now in place to ensure this happens. "I am determined to ensure that those with mesh complications get the treatment they want and need." Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 July 2022
  22. Content Article
    This realist evaluation aimed to explore and explain the ways in which a programme initiated by the Scottish Government, Keeping Childbirth Natural and Dynamic (KCND), worked or did not work in different maternity care contexts. KCND was a maternity care programme that aimed to support normal birth by implementing multiprofessional care pathways and making midwife-led care for healthy pregnant women the national norm.
  23. Content Article
    The Inquiry is investigating the Covid-19 pandemic in Scotland. The Inquiry will establish the facts about the devolved response to the Covid-19 pandemic, in order to identify what lessons there are for the future.  The aim is to learn from the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. People in Scotland have suffered as a result of Covid-19. The Inquiry will examine what was done to face the challenge of the pandemic. The Inquiry will report on what worked well, areas where things could have been done better, and make recommendations. 
  24. News Article
    Emergency doctors in Scotland are “dreading” the Queen’s Jubilee weekend as fears grow that the public holiday will add to long patient queues. One accident and emergency consultant has pleaded with patients to be considerate to NHS staff as they deal with long backlogs at a time when other workers will be on holiday. Calvin Lightbody, at Hairmyres Hospital in Lanarkshire, said that the GP out-of-hours service in his region had been so short-staffed they had to send patients to A&E instead of treating the people themselves, adding to the delays in hospitals. He said a four-day bank holiday weekend, when doctors’ surgeries will be shut, threatened to add to the pressure on “creaking” services. “If you go to A&E you are going to have a very long wait to be seen, several hours probably,” he said. “Please be kind. Our staff are working extremely hard, they are flat out, they are exhausted, they are doing their best.” He appealed to patients not to delay seeking medical attention if they were seriously unwell including those suffering chest pain, heavy bleeding and stroke symptoms even though services were “overwhelmed”. Read full story Source: The Times, 1 June 2022
  25. Content Article
    This report outlines the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland's priorities for the Scottish Parliament. The report centres on the idea that there should be 'no wrong door' for individuals in all communities to accessing the right care, in the right place, at the right time for mental ill health. It highlights the significant effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the mental health of the population: The number of people with high levels of psychological distress (indicating a potential psychiatric disorder) has doubled during the Covid-19 pandemic to 35.6%. Those most vulnerable to psychological distress (67%) were those with pre-existing mental ill health–the population already supported by psychiatrists. Women, young people, ethnically diverse communities and the economically disadvantaged have also been disproportionately affected.
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