Additional training for GP practice staff
General practice staff will be given additional training to develop their skills thanks to a £2.5 million investment from the Scottish Government. The move is part of plans to develop the skills of the whole practice team, making it easier for patients to access the right person at the right time. Continue reading Just what the doctor ordered?
Alison Johnstone MSP, Health spokesperson for the Scottish Greens,has welcomed a review of NHS staffing as figures showed a big increase in the number of people waiting to seen at Accident & Emergency departments. Continue reading Johnstone welcomes A & E staffing review
Nearly £500 million of new healthcare facilities, including the new Sick Children’s hospital at Little France and North West Edinburgh’s Partnership Centre in Pennywell, are expected to open to patients in 2017-18. Continue reading Half a billion pounds of NHS facilities set to go live
NHS boards across Scotland are finalising plans to ensure resilience over winter this year – and prepare for the extra pressures that the season can bring. Continue reading NHS gets ready for winter
Emotional wellbeing is the focus of Scotland’s first ‘Living Life Day’, which takes place tomorrow (Tuesday 25 August).
With the theme ‘Make your day different’, Scots are being encouraged to take steps to improve their wellbeing, whether that’s through exercise, relaxation or time with family or friends.
National Living Life Day will also raise awareness of NHS Living Life, a free service providing over-the-phone therapy for anyone in Scotland experiencing mild to moderate stress or anxiety. It will be 7 years since the NHS Living Life service was launched, which offers free telephone appointments with a Self-help Coach or Therapist.
Tony McLaren, National Coordinator of NHS Living Life, said: “One in four people in Scotland will experience a diagnosable mental health problem each year. Living Life Day helps turn the spotlight on the importance of looking after your emotional wellbeing at an early stage. Services such as NHS Living Life are an empowering and practical way for anyone feeling stressed or anxious to get information, access resources and learn coping skills.”
Jamie Hepburn, Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health, said: “I’m delighted to support Scotland’s first Living Life Day. It’s so important that we all start think about looking after our mental health in exactly the same way we think about caring for our physical health. Physical activity, relaxation and spending time with family and friends are all excellent ways to improve mental wellbeing and reduce the likelihood of problems developing. Living Life Day is a chance for people to think about how they might be able to devote more time to these things.
“NHS Living Life is a tremendous service that helps thousands of people every year. It’s there for anyone experiencing stress or anxiety, and gives them the chance to talk about their feelings and get some practical advice on how to cope. This service is one of the many steps the Scottish Government is taking to improve Scotland’s mental health, reducing the number of people who develop more serious illnesses.”
To find out more about NHS Living Life visit www.livinglife.scot, or phone 0800 328 9655 (lines are open Mon-Fri, 1pm-9pm). Follow @NHS24 to find out what’s happening across the country for #LLDay
PEOPLE seeking information about waiting times in Scotland can now access this via Scotland’s national health information service, NHS inform. Queries can be directed to the national health information service on 0800 22 44 88.
The extension of the NHS inform service builds on the ‘Your Health, Your Rights‘ resource at www.nhsinform.co.uk/rights which brings together information for the public about their health rights, access to health care and national waiting times.
Developed by NHS 24 in partnership with the Scottish Government, the zone was launched in 2013 with the aim of making it easier for patients to access the information relevant to them in one place.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “Patients have an entitlement to be treated as quickly as possible but also at a time that fits in with their lives. The helpline provided through NHS inform will continue to give patients a single point of contact to find out more about their rights and how long they can expect to wait for treatment.
“Waiting times continue to be amongst their lowest ever levels in Scotland, and we want to make sure that patients know what they are entitled to. This information line will also help ensure that waiting times are open, transparent, and that patients receive help and support if they need it.”
NHS 24 Head of Health Information Services Lynne Huckerby added: “Our health information team are trained to answer health information queries on a wide variety of subjects from people throughout Scotland. By contacting NHS inform, people are accessing reliable health information from a trusted source.
“Directing their waiting times queries to the NHS inform phoneline will make it easier for people to access clear and accurate information on their rights and responsibilities. It allows people to access all the health information they need from a single trusted source.”
For more information, visit www.nhsinform.co.uk/rights
The NHS inform helpline is available on 0800 22 44 88, 8am to 10pm, seven days a week.
Dear Editor
The vast majority of people support the NHS because it is service there for them if required. Politicians will know the wrath of this majority if they move against this universal service: the people know there are attempts to privatise some of the NHS and those politicians will learn a lesson at the ballot box.
Other essential services needed and used by everyone must also become universally, not privately, owned. The main ones are gas, electric, water and railways. The first three are needed by everyone, otherwise modern society cannot function. The railways, although not used by everyone, are a main vein transporting goods and people.
There can be no justification for these essential industries being used for private profit by those who have money to invest: it is obscene to pay them dividends when there are other people who cannot afford to heat their homes.
Profit made should be used to maintain those industries and benefit the users: this should apply to all energy companies. To reach this situation the population will have to apply the same pressure and support it gives to the NHS. These issues are common to all, around which maximum unity is possible.
A. Delahoy, Silverknowes Gardens
‘care that puts patients, service users, families and carers at the heart of service planning and delivery.’
Health Secretary Shona Robison has outlined new guidance to help health boards and local authorities jointly plan local services.
Reducing health inequalities and providing dedicated support in early years have been identified as a priority for Scotland’s NHS, as health boards have been set six improvement areas to drive forward services and quality of care.
For the first time separate, mutually supportive, guidance also sets out what local authorities and health boards will be asked to deliver in 2015/16 as part of the new partnership working legislation which comes into force from April.
Integration of health and social care will ensure that people get the right care, in the right place, at the right time, and that people are supported to stay in their own homes and communities as much as possible.
The guidance sets out the key standards that the health service will be expected to meet in the next year. This includes standards around A&E waits, the treatment time guarantee, GP access and child and adolescent mental health waiting times, and also focusses on improving preventative and anticipatory care.
NHS boards are expected to improve the 12 week outpatient waiting times performance during 2015/16 to achieve a 95 per cent standard with the aim of getting to 100 per cent. The guidance ensures delayed discharge remains a key priority for health boards and the new integrated partnerships.
Speaking yesterday, Health Secretary Shona Robison said:
“We all know that Scotland’s people are living longer. Not only does the Scottish Government want to ensure that people are living healthier long lives, but we want more older people to be supported to stay in their own home and local communities.
“We will only achieve this by ensuring that our health and social care services work seamlessly together – something Scotland is already leading the way on across the UK.
“This guidance sets out the Government’s vision for how health and social care will be brought together with services delivered around the patient’s needs. A key element of this guidance is the retention of a focus on reducing delayed discharge. While we have made substantial progress since this Government came to power, recent increases suggest we need to do more. This guidance should provide clear indication that we expect boards and the new integrated partnerships to deliver significant reductions in people spending longer in hospital than they have to.
“This government is clear that health inequalities must be tackled, every child in Scotland should have the best start in life through better early years support and that every patient treated by our NHS receives safe care centred on their needs.
“We’re absolutely committed to supporting our NHS to deliver world-leading care. That is why we have clearly outlined the standards of care that Scottish people can be assured they will get from our NHS.
“Scotland has some of the strongest health standards in Europe, with standards introduced by this Government reducing waiting times to among the lowest levels on record. This has seen more Scots diagnosed and treated quickly for cancer, greatly improving their chances of survival. We will continue to do everything we can to support health boards to achieve these standards.
“Of course our system of health and social care must put the quality of care and the interests of people using services first, and these standards are just one part of our continuing drive forward to further improve care.
“Through this guidance we have reviewed the standards to ensure the focus is on those which provide the most significant benefits.”
The guidance will help health boards and the new integrated partnerships deliver care that puts patients, service users, families and carers at the heart of service planning and delivery.
NHS Scotland LDP Guidance 2015-16: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/Quality-Improvement-Performance/NHSScotland/LDPGuid1516
Task force set up but Lothian figures more than double
The NHS and Scotland’s councils are to work together to tackle the growing numbers of delayed discharges but opposition politicians argue that more urgency is needed to address the issue. NHS Lothian is one of four health board to miss discharge targets.
While delayed discharge has fallen by a third since 2006, the latest statistics show this continues to be challenging, with a significant number of people delayed due to a lack of availability of care in the community.
Health Secretary Alex Neil wrote to local authority and health board partnerships earlier this week, urging them to use the £5 million funding recently announced by the Scottish Government to address the reasons for the delays.
Mr Neil said: “We have come a considerable way in tackling this problem, with comparable figures for 2006 showing three times as many people were delayed for over four weeks.
“However, it’s disappointing that some patients are still delayed for lengthy periods in our hospitals. Remaining in hospital, when clinically ready to leave, is frustrating for individuals and can pose challenges in ensuring effective patient flow through the hospital.
“Integration of health and social care will be key to driving down delays, and we are working with COSLA to deliver integration for the benefit of people across Scotland. We recently announced an additional £5 million to be targeted at the areas with the greatest challenges. This money will be used by seven NHS and local authority partnerships to reduce delays and release hospital capacity.
“Legislation to implement health and social care comes into full force in April next year, but we need not wait to make progress. COSLA and I are agreed that we need immediate improvements and NHS Boards and local authorities recognise the need to work together now to make sure people do not have wait in hospital any longer than is necessary.”
Cllr Peter Johnston, COSLA’s Health and Well-being Spokesperson, added: “I’ve just visited a District General Hospital in my own Health Board area and know from that just how hard nurses, clinicians, social workers and managers are working to facilitate the transfer of people waiting for discharge back to their own homes or into a care home. This is a priority of the first order – we know that for older people in particular, a delay of longer than 72 hours can have an impact on their health and well-being.
“We in COSLA are determined to make further progress on discharge arrangements. We are fully committed to the work of the task force, and believe that innovation in discharge protocols and in commissioning practice will deliver some of the progress needed. This will all take place within emerging health and social care partnerships and we hope to get to a position in time where service redesign can build community capacity to ensure that people are only admitted to hospital because they really need to be there and are then discharged speedily back to their own homes.”
Lothian Green MSP Alison Johnstone believes the government must step up its response to the problem of delayed discharges in the region’s hospitals.
New figures show the number of patients having to wait longer than four weeks to be discharged from hospitals in Lothian has more than doubled in a year. In July this year there were 83 such patients, compared to 39 in April and 37 in July last year.
Alison Johnstone initially raised the issue of delayed discharges with Health Secretary Alex Neil in parliament back in May.
Commenting on the latest figures, she said: “While I appreciate we won’t see a solution overnight it’s a real concern that these figures aren’t improving. I have raised the issue with the health secretary and I’m aware of some distressing and frustrating situations in Lothian region affecting elderly people and their families.
“The Scottish Government and local authorities must step up their action to ensure patients who are ready to be looked after out of hospital aren’t left waiting. We must ensure adequate care home places and care-at-home packages so that people are treated with respect and that our health service resources are being used to best effect.”
New free and easy-to-remember telephone number for NHS 24
A new free and easy to remember number for NHS 24 in Scotland is now up and running. People looking for medical help and advice can, from today (Tuesday 29 April), contact NHS 24 by calling 111.
It means callers in Scotland will no longer be charged when calling NHS 24 from a landline or mobile.
NHS 24 will continue to deliver the same high quality service for anyone seeking advice and support during the out of hours period until their GP surgery reopens.
It previously cost the price of a local phone call from a BT landline, with calls from other landline service providers and mobile providers often costing more.
Health Secretary, Alex Neil, said: “I strongly believe that our NHS should be free at the point of care for all, and this new number will help to protect these founding principles of the NHS.
“The new number is easy to remember, and free to call, which will ensure everyone across Scotland can access support and advice from NHS 24 whenever they need it.
“NHS 24 already provides a valuable service to patients across Scotland when their GP surgery is closed, and there will be absolutely no change to the high quality service provided through this new number.
“By introducing the 111 number we are removing any barrier for the public to access the health advice out of hours. “This will help to ensure people have access to health information and support, including access to a GP, when they really need it.
“In Scotland, the 111 number will be run by NHS 24 as a public service, in public hands – serving the needs of patients.”
“This is in complete contrast to the approach adopted by the NHS in England, where different organisations, including private sector providers, are contracted to provide the number in different regions.”
Mother-of-two Lee Armstrong, from Edinburgh, supports the change to the new number. Lee, 37, has a seven-year-old daughter Charlotte who has type one diabetes. Charlotte, who is a pupil at Wardie Primary School, was diagnosed with the condition when she was four and now uses an insulin pump.
Lee has contacted NHS 24 on several occasions looking for advice and reassurance when she is worried about her daughter’s blood sugar levels.
Lee said: “As a parent, I have always found it useful to have someone at the end of the telephone when GP surgeries are not open at the weekend or in the evenings. I have always been impressed that information about Charlotte and her condition is passed on quickly by NHS 24 to out-of-hours staff. On several occasions, staff have gone above and beyond to make sure Charlotte receives the right treatment or that I am given the correct advice as a parent.
“I think the move to the free telephone number will make it even easier for parents like me to contact the service in what is a positive development .”
NHS 24 Chief Executive John Turner said: “By dialling 111, patients throughout Scotland will receive the same high quality, trusted service that NHS 24 has delivered for more than ten years. We will continue to work with our partners across Scotland to provide high quality support to patients and their families on the new number, which is easy to remember and free to call.”
“NHS 24 has been serving the people of Scotland for more than ten years now and the move to a freephone number represents the next stage in the development of the country’s provider of telehealth and telecare services.”
Welcoming the introduction of the new free phone number, Dr Andrew Buist, Deputy Chairman of the BMA’s Scottish General Practitioners Committee, added: “Creating a new free phone number for NHS 24 will remove barriers to accessing this important part of our out of hours service. Patients will no longer have to worry about the cost of a phone call when seeking urgent health advice.
“NHS 24 provides an important service to patients at evenings and weekends for medical problems that can’t wait until the GP surgery reopens, with healthcare advice and, if necessary, access to a GP.”
More information on NHS 24 is available at www.nhs24.com
