10.07.2019
The Scottish Parliament’s Health and Sport Committee is seeking the views of health professionals across Scotland as they embark on the 2nd phase of their landmark inquiry into primary care.
Earlier this month the Committee published their first phase report which outlined the public’s views on the future of primary care following a survey of 3685 people.
In this report the public made it clear they wanted to see increasing use of technology in Scotland’s NHS and changes in the way primary care services are accessed and delivered.
Speaking at the launch of phase two of the inquiry, Lewis Macdonald MSP, Convener of the Health and Sport Committee, said:
“Our work in phase one helped capture the views of members of the public and it’s clear that when it comes to primary care, the status quo is not an option.
“There is an unequivocal desire to see primary care services embrace technology with around 90% of poll respondents happy to use technology to order repeat prescriptions, and 82% willing to make their appointments online.
“Now we want to take these views to health professionals to hear what they have to say about reforming primary care so that it can meet the challenges and grasp the opportunities of the 21st century.”
To get in touch with the Committee go to:
https://www.parliament.scot/primary-care
The call for views is open until 28th August.
The full phase one report is available here.
The Health and Sport Committee agreed that given multiple developments in Primary Care services it was appropriate to take a broader look at services and how they will look in the future.
The aim for the first phase of the inquiry was to hear directly from service users about their future priorities for primary care. In total they received 2,549 survey responses.
Input was also received from Scottish Youth Parliament Survey who worked with the Committee to ensure they were able to access the views of younger people between 12 and 25. This survey received 1,136 responses.
Three public panels of 10-14 people were then established, sampled from a randomly recruited pool to meet to certain criteria (eg age, gender, socio-economic background) to discuss issues in a more in-depth and informed way. The full reports on the surveys and panel sessions are included in the report.