Hansard

The Convener Lab

Our third item of business is evidence from health boards on PE1568, on access to, and funding and promotion of, the NHS centre for integrative care. I welco...

Catriona Renfrew (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde)

There are a number of different strands around the centre for integrative care. A new national chronic pain service is being developed, which will be availab...

The Convener Lab

Is that what health boards have decided they specifically do not want to fund?

Catriona Renfrew

That question would be better put to the three other health boards. There are shades of difference.

Dr Harpreet Kohli (NHS Lanarkshire)

NHS Lanarkshire’s board took a decision in December 2014 to end referrals of patients to the centre for integrative care, whose services include a range of i...

The Convener Lab

Why? What was the rationale for that decision? Was it to do with funding or making better use of money? Is there a clinical reason underpinning the decision?

Dr Kohli

The decision was absolutely not to do with costs, as the papers that we have given to the committee make clear. The board’s decision was based on the totalit...

The Convener Lab

Can I get clarification on the decisions of the other two health boards?

Professor Alex McMahon (NHS Lothian)

NHS Lothian still refers patients to the centre for integrative care. We did not take a decision to stop as part of our process of consulting on homoeopathy....

Dr Hugo van Woerden (NHS Highland)

NHS Highland took a decision in 2010. A board paper took the position that homoeopathy would not continue to be funded by NHS Highland. We have a clinical ad...

John Wilson Ind

Dr Kohli said that NHS Lanarkshire does not make any referrals to the CIC. Can you clarify whether you were talking about new referrals? We have heard in pre...

Dr Kohli

I confirm that that is true, as is the case with other service changes. If patients are already receiving a service, we continue that service.

John Wilson Ind

On that basis, what evidence did the board hear that was conclusive in respect of its decision to stop future referrals to the CIC?

Dr Kohli

As part of the process, we undertook a review of the world literature on the interventions that are provided by the CIC, including homoeopathy and a range of...

John Wilson Ind

You mentioned a number of groups and organisations from which the health board sought advice, information and reports. What was the response from patients in...

Dr Kohli

As the board’s paper—to which you have access—and the minutes of the meeting make clear, we were open and transparent about the feedback that we had received...

John Wilson Ind

You said that the treatments are not effective. Who determines whether or not a treatment is effective? Is it the patient or the clinician?

Dr Kohli

On how the effectiveness of interventions is measured, we need high-quality and unbiased studies, and we need to look at the literature that exists not just ...

John Wilson Ind

If you had been here for our previous evidence session, you would have heard the committee unanimously agreeing that some guidance, including SIGN guidance, ...

Catriona Renfrew

There are two different elements to that. One is the routine business that we call cross-boundary flow, in which other health boards fund us for the services...

The Convener Lab

How many health boards have signed up to make referrals to and will be providing funding to the CIC?

Catriona Renfrew

I think that only two or three boards send no referrals at all. As colleagues have said, other boards have cost-per-case arrangements, whereby their resident...

The Convener Lab

It cannot be a satisfactory situation that Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS is providing the core funding, essentially, to have the facility there when some hea...

Catriona Renfrew

We work with other health boards on three-year arrangements in order to give some stability to the flow of finance and referrals. We have cross-boundary-flow...

Jackson Carlaw Con

By way of introduction, I want to ask Catriona Renfrew a question of clarification. In 2014, the cabinet secretary confirmed to Parliament that the new natio...

Catriona Renfrew

Detailed planning is being done, literally as we speak. There have been a series of discussions this week, and there has been engagement with the public and ...

Jackson Carlaw Con

The Scottish Government does not have a national position on whether homoeopathic medicine is a good thing or a bad thing, or on whether it should be provide...

Catriona Renfrew

As Dr Kohli said, I think that any health board that is doing such a review looks at a whole range of factors, which includes public opinion, patient opinion...

Jackson Carlaw Con

I am not quite sure where that leaves us in relation to the commitment that I understood you were giving to the centre. Given that NHS Greater Glasgow and Cl...

Catriona Renfrew

I suspect that we last looked at the service in detail about 10 years ago. At that stage, we concluded that we would stop providing homoeopathy. The board re...