Chronic pain and Pain Management Task Force: FOI Release

Information requested

QUESTION ONE : Do you agree that the wording may imply there was no response and will you alter that? Some 15 members emailed our CPG showing they had replied and declared interest - there could’ve been more who did not inform as they weren’t required to. Did you receive all?

Many of our lived experience patients subsequently reported rejection of their services from Clinical Priorities, so you must have received. I was one, so were other longterm supporters of patients.

No explanation was given - patient requests for explanation of rejection did not get a response.

QUESTION TWO Please name how patients were selected and who or what carried out selections? Patients have asked about that as patient reps were previously largely recommended by fellow patients.

Who are the two patient members of the Task Force? One told us openly - we do not know of any other.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.

Please find attached at Annex A the Pain Management Task Force recruitment selection support document.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide all of the information you have requested because an exemption under sections 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information.

Background

The need to expand the input of people with lived experience to chronic pain policy was highlighted during a period of stakeholder consultation we held in summer 2023 to inform an update to our Pain management service delivery framework: implementation plan update – gov.scot (www.gov.scot). As a result of this feedback we reviewed our approach to how we include people with lived experience in chronic pain policy development. We implemented two new opportunities to include people with lived experience and invited them to express an interest to either or both of the following:

• Inform policy development
• Join the Pain Management Task Force as a lived experience representative

Informing policy development

The Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health wrote to Miles Briggs MSP on 19 June 2024 and shared an invitation to members of the Cross-Party Group with lived experience of chronic pain to express their interest in informing policy development in this area. There is no deadline to register interest and everyone who has lived with, or supported someone living with, chronic pain is welcome to do this.

You have asked whether we received all declarations of interest from members of the Cross-Party Group.

So far, we have received 29 expressions of interest from people who consented to having their data retained for the purposes of informing policy development. As you note in your email, we did not require people to say whether they were a member of the CPG when they registered their interest, so we do not hold information on the number of CPG members who registered.

The Scottish Government also cannot disclose names or other personal information about people who registered their interest to inform chronic pain policy because this would be a breach of data protection law. The privacy notice under which we collected the information does not allow it to be shared outside the Chronic Pain Policy Team or select members of the Chronic Pain Task Force, or for it to be used for any purpose other than the development of chronic pain policy.

We contacted those on the database, most recently on 29 April 2024, to ask for their views on issues for public awareness.

Lived experience representation on the Pain Management Task Force

You have also asked for information about how patients were selected for the Pain Management Task Force, who carried out the selections, and who the patients selected are.

Application process

In January we invited all members of our stakeholder groups, including the Cross-Party Group, to express their interest to join the Pain Management Task Force via an application form. The window for applications was open for four weeks and we received 36 expressions of interest by the deadline.

All applications were anonymised and their response to the published question assessed by three panel members; one was external to the Scottish Government, another was external to the Clinical Priorities Unit within the Scottish Government and one was the policy lead for chronic pain. The top five assessed applicants were invited to have a conversation with the panel. The applicants invited for conversations received a support document and offers of additional support. I have attached the support document all candidates received and were scored against, which outlines the role of the Task Force and the key characteristics they would be scored against. After all conversations had taken place the panel met to moderate the scores.

We invited the two highest scoring applicants to join the Pain Management Task Force to provide lived experience representation. We responded to every application we received to join the Pain Management Task Force to inform each person of the outcome of their application and we also provided responses to any follow up queries received to the outcome of an individual’s application.

Names of lived experience representatives

The membership of the Pain Management Task Force is publicly available here: Pain Management Task Force – gov.scot (www.gov.scot). Most members of the Pain Management Task Force are named because they are in paid roles and are participating in a professional capacity. However, the two lived experience representatives are volunteering their experience and expertise and are not being remunerated. In this voluntary position and it is therefore up to the individuals if they wish to disclose their appointment to the Task Force. You have noted in your email that one of them has done this. Under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA disclosing the personal data would contravene any of the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the UK GDPR.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202400422389 - Information Released - Annex A

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6 page PDF

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129.6 kB