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Neurosurgery services to be retained
25/02/2008
Neurosurgery services will be retained at all four sites in Scotland where they are currently provided, but with greater co-operation between them, it was announced today.
The Scottish Government's official response to the report of the Neuroscience Implementation Group endorsed their recommendation that a national service (Managed Service Network) should be set up for neurosurgery in Scotland, with services provided at Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow, as they are currently.
Present arrangements for paediatric neurosurgery will continue and will be managed as part of the national service.
Under the national service, clinicians will be required to work more closely together across sites to ensure that everyone in Scotland, no matter where they live, benefits from the same standard of neurological care.
To develop the national service model, particularly around issues such as workforce and patient pathways, Minister for Public Health Shona Robison also announced that the Neuroscience Implementation Group should remain in existence for a further six months.
The Group was established in 2006 to look at current provision of neurosurgery and neuroscience and to explore ways of improving the service for the future.
Visiting the neurology unit in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary today, Ms Robison said: "I appreciate that there has been a great deal of uncertainty around neurosurgical services for a number of years, and I hope that my announcement today allays the concerns of staff, patients and families and marks the start of a period of stability.
"There was no evidence in the report to support the case for moving to a single site for neurosurgical services, a scenario which I know many were concerned about.
"The innovative model proposed by the Group which I am endorsing today will see all four units continue to provide services locally, while promoting a uniformity of care that does not exist at present.
"By maintaining a neurosurgical presence in each of the units, we are directly addressing fears which have been expressed about the management of neurosurgical emergencies, particularly in the north east.
"The setting up of the Managed Service Network is in line with the vision set out in Better Health Better Care, which described the need to strengthen the traditional Managed Clinical Network Model.
"It is now up to the staff at each of the four sites in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow, to work together to make sure the new model delivers maximum benefits to service users and their families.
"Given that we are not proposing any major change in service provision, and given that I want to bring an end to this period of uncertainty, I have decided that the Scottish Government will not be consulting on these proposals.
"Stakeholders have been consulted at every stage of the group's work and will continue to be involved during the next six months in working up the arrangements for the new service."