This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Multi-million pound investment for GPs
25/03/2003
Funding worth £7.6 million was announced today to help
transform almost half of Scotland's general practices.
The Scottish Primary Care Collaborative brings in a
new method to enable practices to remodel the way they
operate. Collaboratives in England and other parts of the
world have already seen significant benefits to patients
through much improved access and also in freeing up
practice staff to make full use of their skills.
Making the announcement, Malcolm Chisholm said:
"This is a very significant development for Scotland.
"I have been very impressed by the results from the
National Primary Care Collaborative in England. It has led
to dramatic improvements in cutting waiting times at GP
surgeries, patients getting the appointment on the day that
suits them.
"It also helps all primary care staff - from the
practice nurse to the receptionist who often has to bear
the brunt of patients' complaints. They can now get on with
their jobs to serve the public without all the hassle and
unnecessary pressure.
"The Collaborative approach is no quick fix. But it
does offer a golden opportunity for general practices to be
much more effective in delivering services to patients."
By freeing up practice time, the new approach also
allows new models of care for chronic disease. Mr Chisholm
also announced £1.5 million to establish Managed Clinical
Networks for diabetes in each of the 15 NHS Board areas.
He said:
"Managed Clinical Networks are a key part of the new
approach outlined in our recent White Paper, Partnership
for Care, to remove the artificial barriers between primary
and hospital care and involve local clinicians and patients
in designing and delivering services.
"We have to look now at new and innovative models of
service delivery if NHS Scotland is to meet the challenges
of healthcare in this and the next decade.
"The Managed Clinical Network approach to diabetes
services also applies to a wide range of other chronic
diseases."
Also present at the launch of the Scottish
Collaborative in Dundee were Dr John Oldham, head of the
National Primary Care Development Team (NPDT) in England
and Dr Andrew Russell, Clinical Chair of the first wave of
the Scottish Collaborative. Both are also still practising
GPs.
The Scottish Collaborative has been spearheaded by a
pathfinder project involving 18 rural and urban practices
in Tayside working alongside NPDT. The first five months
of the project have already seen a 19 per cent improvement
for patients seeking an appointment with the GP of their
choice and 45 per cent improvement for appointments with
practice nurses.
Dr Russell said:
"It has worked very well in Tayside. We have seen
progress across the board and the feedback from the
practices has been very positive.
"'It is about supporting people in improving the way
they work with an emphasis on incremental changes."
The £7.6m will fund four successive waves each of 100
practices across Scotland coming on stream over the next
three years. Project managers will be appointed and each
practice will receive funding for locum cover for staff
training.
The initial phase of the Collaborative involves
systematic analysis of each practice's capacity and
demand. It then looks at increasing the choice of access
for patients such as consultations by phone or e-mail where
appropriate. Staff also look at the balance of skills to
tailor resources for patient needs such as re-allocating
routine tasks previously done by nurses, like taking
blood.
In these and other ways capacity and demand can be
balanced on each day.
In England this has led to 72 per cent reductions in
waiting times to see doctors and 95 per cent of patients
being seen on the day of their choice. Practices on the
Scottish Collaborative will also be working to improve the
outcomes for patients with diabetes by similarly looking at
processes and their redesign.
Dr Oldham said the Collaborative had also brought
significant benefits for patients with established coronary
heart disease. The sites involved in the Collaborative had
subsequent mortality rates for CHD four times lower than
those not involved.
He said:
"I am delighted that we will be partnering Scotland
in this initiative. Apart from improving access and the
quality of care in diabetes, crucially, the Collaborative
aims to give individuals and organisations different skills
and knowledge which they can apply locally. That makes it
sustainable in the long term."
Professor Andrew Morris, professor of diabetic
medicine at the University of Dundee, who chairs the
Scottish Diabetes Group, said:
"I am delighted that the Minister is making available
funding to help Boards develop their diabetes Managed
Clinical Network. This is a great opportunity and an
essential element of the Scottish Diabetes Framework.
These networks will foster organised collaboration to
ensure that people with diabetes can work alongside health
care professionals to shape diabetes services locally. They
will support the development of high quality integrated
diabetes services across Scotland."
The Scottish Primary Care Collaborative will have a
budget of £7.6 million over the next three years. The
Collaborative approach was strongly advocated in the
Primary Care Modernisation Group's report 'Making the
Connection.'
NPDT will be partnering the Scottish Collaborative.
By the end of the year the Primary Care Collaborative in
England will cover over half of the population. Dr. Oldham
and his team are also advising health systems in Singapore,
Australasia, the Netherlands and Canada.
Establishment of the Diabetes Managed Clinical
Networks fulfills a pledge made last year when the Scottish
Diabetes Framework was published. They should be
operational in each Board by September 2004.