Question reference: S5W-34853
- Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Reform UK
- Date lodged: 29 January 2021
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 February 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the COVID-19 clinical prioritisation framework stating that priority level two surgery should be scheduled within four weeks, whether it will confirm that (a) access to surgery will be maintained for (i) patients who require it to alleviate severe pain and (ii) all patients with priority level two surgery scheduled and (b) where there are capacity issues, alternatives such as the Golden Jubilee National Hospital can be used.
Answer
Throughout the pandemic NHS Boards have worked hard to minimise the cancellation of elective surgery and continue to balance all clinical requirements to ensure emergency trauma, urgent patients can be accommodated. This, on occasions, has meant the postponement of surgery, and we apologise to any patients who has been affected in this way.
The national Clinical Prioritisation Framework for Supporting Elective Care across NHS Scotland was published on 16 November 2020. The Framework sets out the principles that NHS Boards should follow when considering decisions on prioritising cases on their elective care waiting lists during the pandemic.
Whilst the need to protect non COVID-19 healthcare activity remains paramount, it will inevitably be affected by the degree to which we can suppress the virus. Consequently, given the differing levels of virus prevalence we are seeing across the country, we need to give our clinicians and NHS Boards flexibility to manage the demands of this continuing emergency situation.
The expectation is that NHS Boards will follow the principles of the Framework to categorise patients based on their particular clinical needs, and will step back non-urgent routine procedures to held enable the Framework to be followed. This will allow NHS Boards to ensure that the patients with the greatest clinical need are treated quickest.
In relation to capacity issues, The NHS Golden Jubilee are continuing to provide support and mutual aid to all the territorial Health Boards throughout the pandemic and winter period. The Board are also working flexibly to support urgent national demands, including surgery.
In addition, the Scottish Government have secured further capacity from the private healthcare sector in Scotland to help support this work. Our strategy for using the private sector is to ensure that there is a green pathway for those patients who require vital planned care. The private sector hospitals will provide support for breast surgery, urology, and gynaecology.