Question reference: S5W-35403
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 25 February 2021
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Current status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 March 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that all people with the condition, medication refractory essential tremor, can access transcranial magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound at the earliest opportunity; what recent (a) representations and (b) discussions it has had with (i) the NHS, (ii) clinicians, (iii) patients, (iv) family carers, (v) patient organisations and (vi) disabled people's organisations regarding this, and what timescale it has set to achieve this.
Answer
The Scottish Government is aware of some early work by the University of Dundee and Ninewells Hospital to treat a very small number of essential tremor patients through the use of a Transcranial Magnetic Resonance Guided Focused Ultrasound scanner (MRgFUS) on a trial basis.
The Dundee team have had frequent contact with The National Tremor Foundation (Scotland) and also carried out talks with local patient groups regarding the treatment.
It is imperative that before any new procedure is adopted into the NHS, it is first subject to rigorous clinical assessment to establish patient safety and efficacy. A robust evidence base will be key to any future application for national service designation through NHS National Services Scotland’s NSSC (National Specialist Services Committee) and NPPPRG (National Professional Patient and Public Reference Group) committees. These groups advise the Scottish Government on the establishment of national and specialist services.
In the meantime, NHS National Services Division are engaging with both the clinicians in Dundee and with commissioning colleagues in NHS England on how the treatment might be made available to eligible Scottish patients through a cross border referral process from April when it becomes available in England.