This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Fast-track clinics model for future
17/01/2002
The rapid expansion of fast-track NHS clinics, offering
a comprehensive service and increasingly led by nurses and
doctors rather than consultants, is a model for the mix of
investment and reform needed to improve our health service
in Scotland, First Minister Jack McConnell said today.
He was speaking as he visited a fast-track clinic
specialising in tackling skin disease and skin cancer at
Falkirk Royal Infirmary this morning.
Since 1999, the number of fast-track clinics has more
than trebled to over 300.
Mr McConnell said:
"Our plans for improving the NHS are centred on
listening to front-line staff and empowering them to do
what they are best at - organising and delivering care for
patients. Fast-track clinics like this offer a one-stop
service and are clearly one future model for improving
care.
"All across Scotland, ever increasing numbers of
patients are being treated in these fast-track clinics. We
now have three times more of these valuable resources than
in 1999.
"These clinics can offer tests, diagnosis and treatment
in just a few visits - sometime in just a single visit -
and this is thanks largely to the frontline staff. They
have been responsible for much of the massive expansion in
availability of this type of treatment and I want to pay
particular tribute to the increasing role NHS nurses are
playing in leading these developments.
"The benefits to patients are also clear. These clinics
mean fewer visits for treatment, less stress waiting for
test results or appointments and, of course, much shorter
waiting times."