Meeting of the Parliament 20 March 2019
I thank all members who have taken part in this evening’s important debate, which I congratulate Pauline McNeill on securing. I thank her for her continued work with us, through the cross-party group—I know that other members here are also members of that group.
I thank members—in particular Willie Coffey—for giving a voice in this chamber to the many people who suffer from IBD; it is always important that we put such conditions in context. Like other members, I take the opportunity to thank Crohn’s and Colitis UK for its hard work, particularly in developing the national blueprint for IBD in Scotland. It was good to hear Willie Coffey say that there is a feeling that things have improved, albeit that they are not necessarily where they should be.
I also thank Crohn’s and Colitis UK for its on-going engagement with us, to make a difference for people in Scotland who have these conditions. Since the blueprint was published three years ago, we have been working closely with the charity and other third sector partners, in conjunction with NHS boards, to improve pathways and provision for people with IBD.
Successes so far under the modern outpatient programme include the introduction of a standardised dataset, which is informing service improvements and aiding shared decision making, and a series of treatment algorithms for primary and secondary care, which are supporting the timely diagnosis, management and referral of people with IBD. Those measures have laid the foundations for improvements in care and are enabling the clinical community to consider the effectiveness of changes to services.
Pauline McNeill, Clare Adamson and others mentioned the provision of specialist nurses, which is an important issue. A pilot will shortly commence to introduce IBD specialist community nurses, to enable people to access scheduled and on-demand reviews and support in community-based settings—that is important in the context of Liam McArthur’s points about the more rural parts of Scotland. The pilot will include evaluation of the use of phone and video consultations, the benefits of which members highlighted during the debate. The outcome of the IBD community nurse pilot and other work around long-term conditions such as IBD will assist NHS boards in making decisions based on local needs, to ensure that access to specialist nursing services is enhanced.
Other developments include the introduction of a flare card, which contains information for people with IBD, to provide practical support during episodes of flare in their condition, and an individual care plan, to support better, person-centred conversations during appointments with healthcare professionals. We will be piloting that work over the next few months. Again, we acknowledge the support and collaboration of Crohn’s and Colitis UK in that regard.
As part of the modern outpatient programme, an implementation plan will be developed with the clinical community to take forward recommendations in the report. Members will be interested to hear that one of the things to come out of the programme is a mobile app. The app is under development and will give the location of available local toilets, which is a matter to which I will come shortly.