Committee
Public Petitions Committee 01 March 2016
01 Mar 2016 · S4 · Public Petitions Committee
Item of business
Continued Petitions
Pernicious Anaemia and Vitamin B12 Deficiency (Understanding and Treatment) (PE1408)
There is. It might just be me, but I seem to be reading the petitioner’s response differently. On page 2 of her response, the petitioner indicates that there is still not sufficient guidance being issued in relation to treatment. I should declare an interest, because my wife receives regular injections for this condition. As I have been reminded on a number of occasions by ministers, there is no guidance in terms of how many injections a patient should receive or how often they should receive them for a vitamin B12 deficiency. However, in reality not enough seems to be being done to treat the patient, rather than treat what general practitioners and others think is the solution to that. The petitioner raises the issue about the effect that the current frequency of injections has on some patients: because of the time lag between injections their quality of life diminishes dramatically. I have personal experience of how that affects an individual. There is still work to be done to ensure that we get some clarification from the Government as to what is being is issued. The Scottish intercollegiate guidelines network has said that it cannot do anything because the matter does not fall within its remit. It is something that the Scottish Government should be aware of. Perhaps we can ask the Government to carry out some investigations into the overall impact on patients because of the lack of understanding—mainly by GPs—of the testing method that is being applied to patients who present with vitamin B12 deficiency. It would be useful to get some clarification. The petitioner refers to the fact that the gastric parietal cell antibodies, known as PCAbs, and intrinsic factor antibodies, known as IFAbs, in the conditions that present are not always taken into account when prescribing a course of treatment for a patient. It might be worth writing to the Government to see whether it is prepared to carry out some investigations that give us a clear indication of the benefits and timescales of injections that patients should be receiving.
In the same item of business
The Convener
Lab
PE1408, by Andrea McArthur, is on updating the understanding and treatment of pernicious anaemia and vitamin B12 deficiency. What are members’ views?
Kenny MacAskill (Edinburgh Eastern) (SNP)
SNP
There has been welcome progress, if I can put it that way.
The Convener
Lab
There is nothing that remains outstanding. We seem to have reached the end of correspondence that we can be involved in.
Angus MacDonald (Falkirk East) (SNP)
SNP
The paper from the clerk notes that we could alert the Scottish Government and the Scottish Haematology Society to the petitioner’s latest response. That sug...
The Convener
Lab
We could do that and close the petition.
Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab)
Lab
Before the committee closes the petition, I want to draw members’ attention to the links with the thyroid petition and the testing of B12. Such testing is of...
The Convener
Lab
That is something that we could take on board when we consider the petition on thyroid testing and treatment. Do you think that there is more that we need ...
John Wilson
Ind
There is. It might just be me, but I seem to be reading the petitioner’s response differently. On page 2 of her response, the petitioner indicates that there...
The Convener
Lab
On that basis, we cannot close the petition, because there is still some correspondence to be had with the Government. We can put that in the legacy paper an...