This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Annual report on standards from Clinical Board
25/04/2002
The first annual report of the Clinical Standards Boards
(CSBS) review of its 'generic standards' is published
today.
The report follows visits by healthcare professionals to
all NHS Trusts, Islands Boards, the State Hospital for
Scotland and the Scottish Ambulance Service to assess their
performance against the standards developed by CSBS and
published in January 2001. Individual reports, relating to
these, are also published today.
Overall the CSBS found encouraging evidence that
NHScotland is increasingly involving people who use their
services, in the development of those services, as well as
decisions about their treatment and care.
However, problems were identified in a number of areas.
These include:
- the concept of clinical governance is not widely
understood and there is considerable variation in the
way it has been introduced by NHSScotland
- more must be done to address the full implications
of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI)
- higher priority needs to be given to improving
communications between staff and patients
'Generic standards' are standards that are common to all
clinical services. They include clinical governance and the
quality of clinical care; the provision of information to
patients; involvement of patients in decision-making
processes; accessibility of services; discharge
arrangements; record keeping and staff development and
training.
Mr Chisholm said:
"I welcome this report as a useful indicator of the
progress which has been made and the further improvements
which are required, in our drive to develop safe and
effective clinical care. The standards are an integral part
in building a culture of continuous improvement in the NHS
rather than a culture of blame.
"While I am pleased that the report recognises that
there is a great deal of work in progress across every
standard, the challenge now is to ensure that this work is
completed as quickly and effectively as possible. We will
be following up all the issues raised in the individual
reports with the NHS - to ensure that necessary action is
being taken to meet these standards in future.
"Our proposals to establish a Quality and Standards
Board for Health will integrate the work of Scotland's
clinical effectiveness bodies - and provide greater impetus
to our effort to drive up the quality of patient care.
Scotland has led the way in developing systems of clinical
governance and effectiveness. I shall ensure that the NHS
takes today's report seriously.
"The report will also inform our work to develop a new
Patient's Charter. This work, which is being led
by the Scottish Consumer Council, will be based on a
"patient-friendly" version of the generic standards, and
will include
A Patient's Guide to the NHS with information on
rights and responsibilities. We will consult on this during
the summer.
"I take very seriously the report's comments concerning
Healthcare Acquired Infection (HAI) and await the outcome
of the CSBS's more specific work in assessing Trust
performance against the standards which they launched in
January of this year. I look forward to seeing their
Interim Report on Infection Control next month. We will
also hold an international 'summit' on HAI later this
summer, in order to exchange ideas and examples of good
practice in dealing with this worldwide problem.
"This report underlines why we must learn from
experience, whether good or bad, and continually seek to
improve the standards of patient care across NHSScotland.
We are working closely with the new National Patient Safety
Agency to develop a UK approach to improving the quality
and safety of patient care.
"We remain committed to ensuring that NHSScotland
continues to work with patients and their families to
deliver high standards of care and treatment. Scotland has
been allocated record amounts of funding for health in the
last Budget. We must use this to ensure that we continue to
build an NHS which offers the highest quality care to all
the people of Scotland."