Chamber and committees

There has been no specific funding made available to NHS boards to fund the removal of surgical mesh implants for the treatment of pelvic organ prolapse. It is for individual boards to carry out this type of surgery from within existing budgets.

Any individual with concerns about their health should, in the first instance, see their GP. There is a wide range of information and advice available on health and wellbeing from GP practices, community pharmacies and from websites such as NHS Inform and Take Life On.

These costs are driven by activity which is not possible to forecast.

Part 2 of Schedule 5 to the 2004 General Medical Service Regulations sets out the requirements that GP Practices and Health Boards must follow in managing patient lists, including closure of patients lists.

Boards should find ways to either support the practice to once again take on patients or to agree a formal, usually time limited, closure, informing other local practices in the area. This safeguards patient access and allows the Board to monitor the situation more fully and to take any further appropriate action.

NHS Boards have provided the following information.

Any woman who is worried, or is experiencing adverse side effects, should contact their surgeon or GP for advice.

An expert group is developing a revised patient information and consent leaflet that will go into use in NHSScotland and new care pathways for those women who decide to go ahead with a mesh procedure and for those who have suffered complications.

The Chief Medical Officer wrote to all GPs, through Medical Directors, on 11 July 2013 and 20 December 2013 regarding the investigation and management of patients being treated for urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, including the management of patients with vaginal mesh and tape products. The Scottish Government will be writing again to Medical Directors once the expert group has concluded its work developing the documents and new care pathways.

The Scottish Government will write to NHS Inform following the publication of these documents. NHS Inform provides a health information service and is able to respond to enquiries regarding transvaginal mesh surgery. They can be contacted online at www.nhsinform.co.uk or by using their helpline number: 0800224488.

The budget allocation to NHS 24 for the delivery of the Life Begins at 40 programme was £670,000 between October 2010 and December 2012.

In 2014-15, part of the budget has been allocated to redeveloping the website to provide a more accessible service targeted at working age people in collaboration with the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives. This is expected to go live in 2015. Additional funding has been provided to programmes providing targeted support for people in communities with high levels of inequalities in health.

NHS Inform provides a health information service which is able to respond to enquiries regarding transvaginal mesh surgery. They can be contacted online or by telephone.

The Scottish Government will write to NHS Inform following publication of the patient information booklet, currently being developed by the expert working group set up to address the issues affecting women who have undergone transvaginal mesh surgery.

This Government believes in preventative action on health.

We are targeting scarce resources on those most at risk. We have introduced Anticipatory Care Plans through the GP contract and have launched the Links Worker pilot programme in selected Deep End Primary Care practices to support those with complex and multiple needs.

Work is being taken forward by NHS 24 and the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives to develop a web-based resource that will be targeted at people of working age providing advice on health and wellbeing as well as on returning to work from sickness absence.

The Chief Medical Officer wrote to all GPs, through Medical Directors, on 11 July 2013 and 20 December 2013 regarding the investigation and management of patients being treated for urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, including the management of patients with vaginal mesh and tape products.

Between September 2011 and March 2013 a total of 10,902 new users accessed the Life Begins at 40 website.

An evaluation was carried out by Ipsos MORI between August 2011 and February 2012. This showed that only 8% of those invited to access the service chose to do so. Fewer than half (48%) of those who logged on between February and June 2011 completed each section of the online questionnaire.