Hansard

I, too, thank Clare Adamson for her speech. Annie Wells wrote down the same words as I did: brave, emotional and personal. That is absolutely right. I also thank Douglas Lumsden for sharing his story.

As others have done, I acknowledge that November 2023 was the 25th complex regional pain syndrome awareness month. That is an incredibly important event across the world to mark this serious but poorly understood condition.

I will also take this opportunity to commend all of the volunteers, organisations and communities for their hard work in raising awareness of CRPS. I commend in particular CRPS UK and Burning Nights CRPS Support for all the important work that they do for the CRPS community and beyond.

Today’s debate has provided us with a chance to highlight the impact of CRPS and to reflect on the challenges that are faced by people living with the condition. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that people with CRPS can access the right care in the right place at the right time. As Rona Mackay said, hearing stories such as those that we have heard tonight makes such a difference. I also commend the work of the cross-party group on chronic pain, which helps us to establish and understand the impact.

As has been illustrated tonight, when talking about CRPS, we must remember that everyone’s experience of pain and the condition is unique. People need support that addresses their individual needs. I understand how distressing the condition can be, but I also understand how people can regain control of their lives and improve the quality of their lives with the right information and support.

However, many do not feel that they have access to the support that they need, which is why, in November, we published the updated framework for the pain management service delivery implementation plan. The plan sets out priorities for improvement of care and services. It has been informed by people with chronic pain—including those with CRPS—and it outlines actions that we will take to support people with pain to live well. The framework was developed through extensive engagement with people with chronic pain, our services, clinicians and the third sector, and it includes a public consultation on the draft of the framework.

We understand that the majority of people with CRPS access support in community settings, and we recognise that there are opportunities for improvement. Given the varying impact that CRPS has on general health and wellbeing, different people require different levels of support that are tailored to their unique circumstances. We need to promote new approaches to delivery so that specialist services are more accessible and sustainable for the future. We will continue to work with service managers, our clinical networks and the centre for sustainable delivery to include and introduce new ways of delivering care, create additional capacity and redesign pathways into specialist pain services.

We have heard about the variation in management and treatment options across Scotland. My officials have taken note of some of the points and suggestions that have been made, and we will look into them—specifically those on meeting CRPS UK and Burning Nights CRPS Support.

I want to be clear that it is our expectation that every person with CRPS has access to high-quality, evidence-based and effective support to help them to manage the impact of their condition, no matter where they live. Together, the actions in our framework will provide a better experience of services for people, improved co-ordination of care between community-based and specialist services, and better outcomes for care and treatment.

Clare Adamson and Carol Mochan mentioned issues related to research. NHS Research Scotland’s pain network, which is funded by the Scottish Government through the chief scientist office, brings together around 200 researchers across multiple disciplines to promote collaboration and to share pain research activity and findings. The chief scientist office directly funds research projects, so any projects on underlying causes, treatment or management of pain are very welcome.

Tonight’s debate has informed us that many people who live with complex regional pain syndrome feel that the impact of their condition is often overlooked or ignored by society. People with CRPS also need services that recognise pain and offer effective support for the challenges that they face in their daily life. That is why we are taking action to embed awareness and skills in management of chronic pain and associated conditions at all levels of the NHS workforce through a pain-informed approach. However, I note some of the other points that have been made, and we will also look at other options around those.

I recognise the work that third sector organisations are doing in this area. We have heard how challenging it can be to find clear and consistent information. In response, we have established a pain management national working group, which is dedicated to overseeing improvement in the co-ordination of information and resources at the national and local levels. That is to ensure that we deliver more useful and appropriate national advice about chronic pain and associated conditions, as well as better information on the steps that people can take to manage its impact and how they can access further support and services when they need it. I am pleased to say that, this year, as a result of that work, the chronic pain pages on the NHS Inform website were updated.

People with CRPS are already experts on their condition, but we know that many benefits from additional supported self-management are offered by our partners in the third sector. We have established a dedicated third sector network to improve partnership working in our public services so that people can access a wider range of options for support. The network includes stakeholders such as Versus Arthritis and Pain Concern, which provide support for people with people with CRPS, and I am grateful for their contribution and the important work that they continue to do.

We also understand that people who are living with CRPS face challenges in accessing local services when they need them, and that that has an impact on their wellbeing and opportunities for earlier and more effective intervention. Our framework includes an aim on accessible care, with specific actions to improve how local and national services are delivered to provide a more co-ordinated and consistent experience. We will do that by sharing best practice, promoting innovative new approaches to service delivery and improving how services understand the needs of their local populations. That supports the approach that we have taken to date to improve how specialist pain services work in partnership and share expertise with primary care colleagues.

I thank members for their contributions. As I said earlier, my officials and I have noted suggestions and we would be happy to meet members and the charities. We have been improving referrals and access to the Scottish national residential pain management programme, which provides the highest level of care for people who have chronic pain. The Scottish Government funds the programme to the value of about £630,000 a year.

I reiterate the Scottish Government’s commitment to increasing awareness of complex regional pain syndrome and its impact or, as Rona Mackay said, to opening the gate to improving everyone’s understanding. We will continue to listen, learn and act to make sure that people who are living with CRPS can access safe, effective and person-centred support to help them to manage their condition and live well.