Scots doctors dissect critical report
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Damning critique: BMA Scotland disagrees with report
Helen Puttick, Health Correspondent
Published on 18 Mar 2010
Scottish doctors have published a damning critique of a report which claimed Scotland had the most expensive but poorest health service in the UK.
The British Medical Association (BMA) Scotland said the study by the Nuffield Trust did not make meaningful comparisons between the health services in Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland. They asserted that the trust’s report focused on healthy policy priorities that exist in England, rather than considering the different aims of the devolved nations.
According to BMA Scotland, while the report attacked the devolved nations for failing to improve waiting times, data show the median wait for treatment for cataract surgery, bypass surgery, hip replacement, knee replacement and some heart procedures was lower in one or more of the devolved countries than in England. It also said the work of GPs was ignored and surgeries in the devolved countries had achieved higher scores than England in the GP performance-related pay scheme.
Click the link to read about BMA Scotland healthcare critique
Filed under Patient management, Planning, Scottish Healthcare by on Mar 19th, 2010. Comment. 
Legal guarantee to be given for treatment waiting times
Patients will have a legally guaranteed waiting time for an operation
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Patients will be legally guaranteed hospital treatment within 12 weeks under new legislation which has been unveiled by the Scottish government.
An independent advice service will also be created for anyone unhappy with the care provided by the NHS.
The Patient Rights (Scotland) Bill will introduce a legal right to complain about treatment.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said the bill aimed to improve patients’ experience of using health services.
The maximum waiting time of 12 weeks will begin when a patient is put on a waiting list and will apply to both day case and in-patient procedures.
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 It is absolutely right that patients know what they can expect from their health service  Nicola Sturgeon
Health Secretary |
If a hospital fails to comply, it will have to ensure treatment is given at the “next available opportunity” and provide an explanation to the patient for the delay.
Health boards will have a duty to direct patients who are unsatisfied with their treatment to the new Patient Advice and Support Service.
Follow the link to read more about improving patient care
Filed under Patient Safety, Patient management, Patient point of view, Scottish Government by on Mar 18th, 2010. Comment.
Elderly care costs set to double in the next 15 years
New research by the think-tank found that the bill, projected to reach £8.1 billion in 2015, would hit £12.1bn in 2026.
Should the Government introduce universal free social care for the elderly, costs would rise to £16.8bn by 2016. King’s Fund called for a “partnership” model, where half of everyone’s care was met by the state.
Filed under Long Term Conditions, Patient management by on Mar 16th, 2010. Comment.
ATLANTA, GA (March 1, 2010) – A new Jackson Healthcare survey of hospital nurses found that nurses estimate spending one quarter of their twelve-hour shift on indirect patient care. Respondents cited regulatory requirements, redundant paperwork and logistical challenges as the primary contributors of time spent away from the patient’s bedside.
The study, which targeted nurses, nursing managers and chief nursing officers (CNO) across the U.S., was conducted in partnership with StatCom and Travel Nurse Solutions. It was based upon an online survey of 2,439 nurses, and focuses on the 1,663 who work in hospital settings.
Nurses reported having to document patient care information in multiple locations, in addition to having to complete logs, checklists and other redundant paperwork that prevented them from having more time with their patients. Beyond these paperwork redundancies, nurses reported significant time being wasted trying to secure needed equipment and supplies.
When asked for solutions to these challenges, nurses recommended a combination of ancillary staff support, hospital-wide communications technology and reductions in redundant regulatory requirements.
According to Jackson Healthcare Chief Marketing Officer, Bob Schlotman, the results reveal a concerning trend. ”Nurses are being taken away from the patient’s bedside by non-patient activities. Unfortunately, due to the regulatory nature of healthcare, we know that some of these redundancies won’t go away. However, the good news is methodology, in the form of process improvements, and adaptive technology now exists to help minimize and manage these frustrations for our nurses.”
The survey found several significant differences between front line nurses and CNOs. CNOs were more concerned with the coordination of patient care, whereas nurses felt overworked and in need of additional staff support.
The survey summary data is available at Jackson Healthcare.
SURVEY METHODOLOGY-Between October 22 and November 30, 2009, Jackson Healthcare conducted a web-based survey of 2,439 nurses. Results reported in this press release focused on the 1,663 of those nurse respondents who work in hospital settings. Jackson had a response rate of 4.45 percent from the 54,764 invitations distributed. The survey has an error range of +/- 1.29 percent, at the 95 percent confidence level.
Filed under Patient management, Planning, Staffing levels by on Mar 15th, 2010. Comment.
‘Record’ £8.4bn funding for NHS
The government said extra money would be targeted at frontline services
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Funding for NHS boards for 2010-11 will increase by 2.7% to a record £8.4bn, the Scottish government has said.
It said the extra money in the revenue funding would be targeted at frontline services for patients.
Most health boards will get 2.55% more money. However, Fife, Forth Valley, Grampian, Lanarkshire, Lothian and Orkney will receive higher increases.
The Scottish government said this is because of changes in the areas’ populations and levels of deprivation.
The Scottish Ambulance Service and NHS 24 will receive an increase of 2.15%.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: “It means health boards will have the resources they need to progress their plans and ensure that patients continue to be put at the heart of the NHS.”
Health boards have been allocated the following: Ayrshire and Arran £570.2m, Borders £166m, Dumfries and Galloway £238.3m, Fife £502.9m, Forth Valley £398.8m, Grampian £678.5m, Greater Glasgow and Clyde £1.8bn, Highland £480.6m, Lanarkshire £798.4m, Lothian £1.01bn, Orkney £31.3m, Shetland £36.8m, Tayside £592.9m and Western Isles £58.1.
Read more about Scottish Healthcare Funding
Read the Government release about Funding for NHS Boards
Filed under Scottish Government by on Mar 12th, 2010. Comment.
22nd and 23rd September 2010
Glasgow Science Centre www.glasgowsciencecentre.org
Giving you advance notice that our conference this year will be the biggest and brightest yet! We are staging this event at the prestigious Glasgow Science Centre where you not only have great views over the Clyde and City but complementary entrance to the fun science exhibits. The futuristic building mirrors BCS Health Scotland’s innovative and forward looking approach..
We have three themes this year which are quality, innovation, and efficiency.
Keynote speakers include:
Matthew Swindells, former CIO Connecting for Health, and chair BCS Health
Rikard Lovstrom from Sweden to talk about their National Patient Overview project and eHealth strategy
Dorothy Whittick from Canada talking about the Canadian Health Infoway national developments and a Wellness project in Alberta
Brian Robson from Scotland on the Quality theme and his experiences from the USA.
PRESENTATIONS INVITED – Do you have something interesting to present in one of our themes ?
To get in touch please use the contact form
Exhibitions confirmed include:
| AtosOrigin Alliance | Emis |
| INPS | Intersystems |
| Microtech Support | Orion Health |
| Voice Technologies | and many more in the pipeline |
Exhibitors are staging a social networking evening after the first day events so look out for a fun time as well as stimulating and thought provoking discussions.
If you would like to Exhibit please contact Neil Campbell using the contact form
NHS Scotland eHealth Awards!
An exciting new departure will be the ‘NHS Scotland eHealth Awards!’. These awards are given to winning NHS teams for three categories sponsored by BCS and Scottish Government, look out for an announcement in the next few weeks.
The Scottish Parliament’s Health and Sport
Committee has published the report of its
short inquiry into telehealth and clinical
portals. The report argues that safeguarding
of patient privacy, timescales and continuity
for the national rollout of telehealth schemes
and tackling resistance from medical staff in
using technology are major issues which
must be given immediate attention by the
Scottish Government.
The report also criticises what it calls the
slow and inconsistent provision of clinical
portals and telehealth over the decade in
Scotland.
Committee Convener Christine Grahame MSP
said: “If used effectively and efficiently,
technology such as clinical portals and
telehealth could make a huge difference to
the quality of care and treatment patients
receive across Scotland.
“It also has the potential to release muchneeded
resources in these economically
difficult time for front-line patient services.
“However, our Committee report reveals that
the Scottish Government has some serious
work to do in encouraging health boards to
use and evaluate this technology. We hope
the Government will act on our
recommendations regarding patient rights,
professional standards, funding and staff
training by 2014 at the latest.”
The Committee’s recommendations include:
• value for money being placed at the
heart of any NHS telehealth strategy
• patients, midwives, nurses and other
health representatives must be on the Clinical
Portal Programme Board designed to oversee
clinical portal projects in Scotland
• establishing an eHealth professional standards
group including clinicians, medical bodies,
teaching and trainers?
Read the full Health and Sport Committee Report
Report from weekly news at IHM Scotland
Filed under Technology, Telehealth by on Mar 8th, 2010. Comment.
GPs hit out at NHS 24 nurses who ‘haven’t seen a patient in years’
GPs are concerned that some patients who use NHS 24 are being sent unnecessarily to hospitals
Helen Puttick
Published on 7 Mar 2010
Concern that nurses who have had no face-to-face dealings with patients for years are working for the helpline NHS 24 are being raised by Scottish doctors.
GPs are expected to condemn the use of nurses with no recent experience of meeting patients to assess people over the telephone, at a major medical conference later this week.
Dr Georgina Brown, who has flagged-up the issue to the British Medical Association Scotland, said she worked alongside NHS 24 nurses at the Scottish Flu Response Centre. She felt they did not have the confidence to advise patients to look after themselves at home because they had not dealt with the sick, in person, for some time.
She said nurses would send people to hospitals or out-of-hours centres when they did not need medical treatment.
Dr Brown, a GP from Springburn in Glasgow, said: “They are an extremely committed group of nursing staff but a lot of them had not seen a patient in years and I felt it was inappropriate.
“If they spent even half their time in practice and the other half doing NHS 24 that would be more appropriate. Telephone triage is very difficult.”
Dr Brown said she was far more likely to give patients self care advice while her NHS 24 colleagues were more likely to refer them to another part of the health service. She said: “It is because they are following this strict algorithm [of computerised questions] and because they are not used to seeing patients on a daily basis.
“I feel over a period of time, if you do not see patients regularly you lose that level of confidence and clinical skills.”
NHS 24 nurses have a minimum of two years post-graduate experience and the majority are higher-grade nurses who have worked for at least three years outside the helpline, preferably with NHS community or hospital services.
Dr George Crooks, medical director for the helpline, said the call centre nurses were given opportunities to rotate into other clinical areas and many did hold positions in other parts of the health service, such as A&E departments. He added that a review had shown it did not make any significant difference to a patient’s outcome if they spoke to an NHS 24 nurse or GP.
Click the link for more on GPs, nurses and NHS 24
Filed under NHS 24, Patient Safety, Patient management by on Mar 8th, 2010. Comment.
Filed under Mobile Health, Technology, Telehealth, Wireless ICT by on Mar 6th, 2010. 1 Comment.
Pictured at today’s launch were minister Keith Brown, Sian Armour, Dr Jane Thompson (both Ubiquigent) and Sir Philip Cohen. |
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| A new company, backed by American money and tasked with the development of drugs to fight cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, was launched in Dundee today (writes Bruce Robbins). | |||
| Ubiquigent Ltd., which will benefit from a £3 million, three-year cash investment from its US parent company Stemgent Inc., will seek to benefit from the world-class research being done at the Scottish Institute for Cell Signalling at Dundee University.The new venture has already created three jobs and this is likely to increase to five this year and possibly 10 next year.
Scottish Government skills and lifelong learning minister Keith Brown, who was taken on a tour of the SCILLS labs today, described the announcement as an “excellent investment” for the city’s — and Scotland’s — life sciences sector. He said, “Our pioneering research and technology is globally renowned. We have a clear academic lead in this field. “The Scottish Government is fully committed to growing this sector and maximising the talent. “This is why we met our manifesto commitment and invested £10 million to establish a life sciences institute in Dundee, the SCILLS unit, and provided £3 million to support the recruitment of up to 100 new apprentices within the life sciences sector last year. “The world-class talent, skills and technology within the SCILLS unit at the University of Dundee is undoubtedly a huge factor in this move.” Mr Brown added it would have been good had a Scottish private equity company been willing to provide the £3 million funding that is coming from America but it was a case of changing the investment culture in this country. SCILLS is directed by Sir Philip Cohen and concentrates on an emerging area of cell signalling called protein ubiquitylation, which is said to have great potential for the development of drugs to treat cancer, inflammatory diseases and autoimmune diseases. More on Cancer drug firm in Dundee |
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Filed under Pharmacy by on Mar 4th, 2010. Comment.
