Main Report of the National Review of Primary Care Out of Hours Services

11 Role of Special Health Boards and Public Bodies

Evidence

Active engagement, including visits and discussions took place with NHS National Services Scotland (NHS NSS), NHS Education Scotland (NES), NHS Health Scotland, NHS 24, the Scottish Ambulance Service and Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), in order to help to define their roles in supporting future OOH and urgent care services in Scotland.

Recommendation 23 relates to the future role of Special Health Boards and Public Bodies

Summary

• NHS National Services Scotland should play a lead role in interpreting and delivering the Review recommendations from a public health intelligence perspective at national and local levels, in active collaboration with territorial Health Boards. This includes live operational use of intelligence, as well as for strategic planning, service monitoring and development purposes. Work is already in progress on this, including the development of a health and social care dataset at individual patient/service user level to inform local strategic commissioning. This needs to be coordinated across all urgent care sectors, not just the NHS, and conforms to the principle of intelligence-led services (Recommendations 1,3,21).
• NHS 24 and the Scottish Ambulance Service should be encouraged to work together more closely across all their processes, with a view to improving effectiveness and efficiencies of the patient journey of care in order to deliver best outcomes (Recommendation 2).
• NHS Education Scotland should continue to deliver the lead role in developing training and leadership support for a reconfigured clinical workforce, in order to secure optimal urgent care for the people of Scotland (Recommendations 8-19).
• NHS Health Scotland should lead the delivery of a health inequalities impact assessment process, following assimilation of the recommendations from this Review. This contribution should also inform supported self care and best use of health and care services, with a view to best patient outcomes and narrowing health inequalities (Recommendation 7).
• Healthcare Improvement Scotland* should strengthen its support for quality improvement approaches and resources applicable to urgent care in the community, in active and synergistic collaboration with the Care Inspectorate*.
• The Scottish Health Council should continue to promote best engagement of the Scottish people in participating and shaping future care services at national and local levels, including self care and best use of urgent and emergency care services (Recommendation 5).

*Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Care Inspectorate are public bodies.

Third sector teams - Alliance and Voluntary Action Scotland