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NHS 24 (Remote and Rural Areas)
Question Time — Scottish Executive — Health and Wellbeing
2:15 pm
Liam McArthur (Liberal Democrat)
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the performance of NHS 24 in meeting the needs of patients in remote and rural areas. (S3O-3102)
Nicola Sturgeon (Scottish National Party)
Everyone in Scotland has the same access to the full range of NHS 24 services and
Liam McArthur (Liberal Democrat)
Will the cabinet secretary accept that the experience of too many people in remote and rural areas such as my Orkney constituency is that when they contact NHS 24 they face not only the problem of having to deal with cumbersome questioning and requests for information that has already been given—which, no doubt, urban callers also experience—but the additional concern that NHS 24 staff will not understand the need to take the local geography into account in dealing with the call? Will she undertake to sit down with general practitioners and patients' representatives from remote and rural areas to review how we can best provide 24-hour care in those challenging parts of Scotland?
Nicola Sturgeon (Scottish National Party)
I recognise the important issues that Liam McArthur raises. There is already a very good working relationship between NHS Orkney and NHS 24. Liam McArthur may be aware that Dr Peter Baxter, the associate medical director for the north for NHS 24, is currently on secondment to NHS Orkney as medical director. That demonstrates the commitment of NHS 24 to working in partnership with the board and ensuring that there is the understanding of remote and rural communities that Liam McArthur rightly talks about.
I am also pleased to note that the chairman of NHS Orkney will visit the NHS 24 centre in Aberdeen on 22 May. That will be useful in ensuring that the mutual understanding exists that is vital if people in parts of the country such as that which Liam McArthur represents are to be properly served by health services.
The Government is absolutely committed to ensuring that people in remote and rural areas get the same level of access and quality in their health services as people elsewhere in the country. That is why, in the next few weeks, I will launch the report of the remote and rural steering group, which will go an awful long way to securing the sustainability of remote and rural services.
I take Liam McArthur's points about the questions that people are asked when they phone NHS 24. However, he will understand that those questions are asked for good clinical reasons and that it is important, when anybody calls NHS 24, that the staff ask the right questions so that they can ensure that the person is passed to the appropriate part of the health service as quickly as possible.
Mary Scanlon (Conservative)
I welcome the new NHS 24 service that offers psychological support, using cognitive behavioural therapy, to people with low moods and depression in Orkney. How will that initiative be audited? Does the cabinet secretary have any plans to roll it out to other rural and island areas, as I hope she will?
Nicola Sturgeon (Scottish National Party)
I thank Mary Scanlon for welcoming that important service development in NHS 24. It will be audited in the same way as any service that NHS 24 or any other health board delivers. She is aware that we have rigorous standards of audit and performance management in the national health service, and those will apply to new services as well.
Mary Scanlon has raised the issue on many previous occasions in the chamber and is right to have done so. I give her an assurance that we intend to up the game of the NHS in terms of cognitive and behavioural services. If we are to meet some of the other challenging targets that we have set—for example, in the health improvement, efficiency, access and treatment targets framework—it is vital that those services are in place.
Angela Constance (Scottish National Party)
Has any work been undertaken to evaluate the working practices of NHS 24 and the impact of the inappropriate call-out of ambulances? If not, is such work going to be undertaken? I recently met front-line ambulance crews in Livingston, and I believe that that may be an issue.
Nicola Sturgeon (Scottish National Party)
Angela Constance will appreciate that there may be some specific issues behind her question. If there are specific concerns that either Angela Constance or the ambulance service has around any NHS 24 practices, those should be brought to my attention. I assure her that I will examine them carefully. I know that the management of NHS 24 would also be pleased to discuss any specific concerns with the ambulance service.