Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government, together with the Lyme Borreliosis Group are actively engaged in raising awareness of the materials produced to educate people on Lyme disease. This includes a social media video campaign which ran throughout Summer 2018 encouraging young people to check for and remove ticks safely, an article on the Visit Scotland website and an outdoor health workshop held in Stirling in October 2018. All of which signpost to the ‘avoiding bugs and germs outdoors’ web pages on NHS Inform ( www.nhsinform.scot/bugs-and-germs ).

The Scottish Government and the Lyme Borreliosis group are currently working on promotional activity for 2019 which will include the distribution of branded tick removers which signpost to the ‘avoiding bugs and germs outdoors’ web pages on NHS Inform.

Routes to raise awareness of Lyme disease discussed at the symposium in Benbecula included social media, community pharmacies and production of educational materials.

The Scottish Government is already committed to reducing the burden of Lyme Disease in Scotland and welcomes a wider EU approach to tackling this complex disease.

Health Protection Scotland (HPS) publish numbers of laboratory confirmed cases of Borrelia burgdorferi as part of the annual surveillance report on Zoonotic disease in Scotland. The most recent report can be accessed here: https://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/resourcedocument.aspx?id=6891

These numbers are likely to underestimate the total number of cases of Lyme disease because current guidance recommends that health care professionals treat patients presenting with the erythema migrans rash immediately with antibiotics, without requiring laboratory testing.

It should be noted that the data in the report for 2017 is provisional. The total number of laboratory confirmed cases of Borrelia burgdorferi in 2017 is 167.

In a situation where there is no SIGN guideline on a specific topic, healthcare professionals would be expected to look for other high-quality evidence based guidance on which to base their practice. SIGN have indicated that the above NICE guidelines fit this criteria.

The Scottish Government is in the process of seeking the views of experts on the applicability of the NICE guidelines on Lyme disease for use in Scotland.

Raising awareness of Lyme disease is an ongoing priority for the Lyme Borreliosis Group which is part of the Scottish Health Protection Network. In addition to producing educational materials for the public and medical practitioners, the group has run a number of sessions for Community Pharmacy Groups and in partnership with the local Health Protection Team, held a symposium on Lyme disease on Benbecula. The group continues to meet and discuss routes for raising awareness.

There are no plans to print leaflets as these are freely available to download from the Health Protection Scotland (HPS) website.

Where there is no SIGN guideline on a particular topic, SIGN would expect healthcare professionals in Scotland to look for another high quality, evidence based guideline, such as the recently published NICE guideline on Lyme disease. This latest NICE guideline is a valuable publication, it is high quality and evidence based. Healthcare professionals in Scotland will be able to use this guideline to inform their current practice in the management of this condition.

Published information on Lyme disease for medical practitioners can be found at: lyme-disease.aspx"> http://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/education-and-training/by-theme-initiative/public-health/health-protection/gastrointestinal-infection-and-zoonoses/lyme-disease.aspx

and for the public at:

https://www.nhsinform.scot/bugs-and-germs

The Scottish Health Protection Network (SHPN), comprising Health Protection Scotland (HPS) and all the NHS Health Boards, as well as Local Authorities and other agencies with a responsibility for public health, formed a Lyme disease group as a subgroup of the Gastrointestinal Infections and Zoonoses (GIZ) group at the beginning of 2016. The group has produced new public-facing materials, in the form of an information leaflet and an infographic poster, explaining the risks from ticks and tick borne diseases and highlighting simple steps people can take to avoid infection. The group has also launched the Outdoor bugs and germs pages on NHS Inform (https://www.nhsinform.scot/bugs-and-germs), bringing together in once place, for the first time, comprehensive advice on how to avoid infection from bugs and germs. Scottish Government officials, along with members of the SHPN GIZ group are currently planning greater and sustained promotion of these materials commencing in Spring 2018.

Lyme disease has also featured on the programme of the NHS Health Protection Symposium held in December 2016, which was open to all members of the SHPN, and the symposium was attended by a group of individuals from different sectors and regions of Scotland. Through February and March, evening meetings for Community Pharmacy Groups featuring Lyme disease were presented by members of the group in 5 Health Boards and in August 2017, a Lyme disease one-day symposium was held in Benbecula, organised by the local Health Protection team in partnership with SHPN.

The ongoing work of the group seeks to improve surveillance of Lyme disease in Scotland. This will give us a better estimate of the burden of disease and the impact of our efforts to raise awareness about its avoidance.

A multi-agency Lyme Borreliosis Group is coordinating a number of initiatives to raise awareness of Lyme disease among health professionals. This includes producing webinars aimed at front-line clinicians, making information available on the NHS Education Scotland website, delivering presentations at community pharmacy events, presenting at the Scottish Health Protection Network symposium held in November 2016, and including information about Lyme Borreliosis in the NHS Education Scotland General Practice newsletter. It is hoped that the Group will be able to consider the Royal College of General Practitioners' online course, and its appropriateness for Scotland, in the coming months.

Current diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease in Scotland is in line with published guidelines. A multi-agency Lyme Borreliosis Group was set-up in February 2016 to identify and deliver national priorities with the aim of reducing the burden of this disease in Scotland. The Group is currently focussing on raising awareness among health professionals and the public in order to prevent cases and to ensure the early diagnosis and treatment of cases. The group has representation from the National Lyme Borreliosis Testing Laboratory at Raigmore Hospital which collaborates closely with experts at Public Health England and elsewhere, and keep the testing offered in Scotland under constant review to ensure that patients have access to the most robust and scientifically justified testing regimen available. As part of their regular discussions on priorities, the group will consider the outputs of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s review on this topic which is expected to be published in 2018.