Hansard

I welcome the cabinet secretary’s motion on chronic pain. I come to the debate with the background of being one of the three co-conveners of the cross-party group on chronic pain, along with Jackie Baillie and Jackson Carlaw, and as a member of the Public Petitions Committee, which considered the petition that Susan Archibald lodged on the cross-party group’s behalf to take forward the issues that the group has highlighted in relation to chronic pain. That petition has clearly brought important issues into the wider public domain and partly helped to initiate today’s debate.

It is estimated that 800,000 people, including 70,000 children, suffer from chronic pain at varying levels. Healthcare Improvement Scotland provides no definitive figures on the numbers of people who are affected by chronic pain but, according to the Scottish intercollegiate guidelines network, the problem might affect approximately 18 per cent of the population at some point during their lives.

I recognise that the Scottish Government considers that the best way in which to fully investigate the issues behind chronic pain is to adopt a Scottish service model. The Government accepted some four years ago that long-lasting pain is a condition in its own right but, that said, there has been criticism of health boards in relation to taking the necessary action in a wider Scottish context.

The Scottish Government has made a commitment to provide two-year funding to start up local service improvement groups. The requirement for better data collection has been recognised for benchmarking. In addition, the chief executive of NHS Scotland has proactively looked for feedback from all health boards on how progress towards the four key recommendations is being assessed. I touched on the first recommendation in mentioning the Scottish service model for chronic pain, and the cabinet secretary rightly identified that we also have to look at the social model of care for sufferers of chronic pain.

I will spend some of my time talking about the second recommendation, which is about working with patients and the voluntary sector. Although health boards need to develop a stronger level of participation by patients, some people could argue that patients can be moved around for treatment, so we need to look carefully at whether the treatment plan is patient centred. Some members of the cross-party group have made the criticism that there is little patient representation. The Scottish Government clearly has a role in developing solutions on that. The role can be successfully implemented only if organisations work jointly on a shared programme.

That is just one aspect of the approach that is needed if we are to ensure better service delivery for people with chronic pain. Another concerns what is happening on a practical, day-to-day basis. Although I recognise the good work that is taking place at the Buchanan centre in Coatbridge, which is a primary care facility, it is centralised, which leads to problems with patients accessing the facility, especially if they stay in outlying villages in Lanarkshire.

The most basic building block of the NHS is the general practitioner. GPs have a vital role in developing an holistic approach. I note that the need for their assistance in developing an approach that delivers local clinics run by GPs with a specialised interest is going to be answered by 10 GPs who have registered an interest in Lanarkshire.

I note and welcome the fact that the Scottish Government has placed a high priority on each health board delivering a plan that covers all areas of chronic pain. The Government is already committed to providing the appropriate residential accommodation, especially for patients whose chronic pain is severe, and that should limit the impact on people who are at risk now and in the future.

I welcome the opportunity to highlight chronic pain because, behind the talk of data collection, we must remember that we are talking about real people who, at many levels, are just trying to get through the day and through their lives. Chronic pain has an impact not just on individuals but on their families. It affects people’s day-to-day activities and whether they can hold down a job. We must remember that, if people are to be active in their communities, they need services to be provided by the health board and others to enable them to do that and to continue leading fulfilling lives, rather than finding that their condition has a debilitating impact on them.

We look forward to a time when chronic pain is taken seriously not just by the people who suffer from it but by all those who are involved in delivering services, such as health boards and others. That will ensure that, when we move forward as a society, those individuals feel that they are part of that society.

I look forward to the initiatives that the cabinet secretary is taking and I look forward to a time when Scotland has a comprehensive chronic pain service that is provided in every part of Scotland, with health boards playing a vital role and with GPs being seen as front-line service providers for many patients. There should be a co-ordinated approach to ensure that all patients, no matter who they are, receive the treatment that they deserve and require.

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