Question reference: S1O-04274
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 5 December 2001
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Current status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 13 December 2001
Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what priorities it has set in respect of recruiting and training nurse specialists in the NHS in Scotland.
Answer
A specialist nurse is defined as a person who has successfully completed a post qualification course of study in a specific clinical field and who applies higher levels of judgement, discretion and decision-making in clinical care in order to improve the quality of patient care, meeting the needs of patients within the specialty and in the specific area of practice.In practice many specialist nurse roles have developed in order to improve the quality of health promotion and care to patients with particular diseases such as, for example, specialist nurses for diabetic patients, and for patients requiring palliative care, pain control, infection control or those with breast cancer.Recruitment and training of specialist nurses is primarily a matter for individual NHS Trusts to determine in light of the clinical needs and service developments of their area.