You are on page 1of 4

.

Ministear airson Siainte Poblach Minister for Public Health


Micheal Matheson BPA Michael Matheson MSP

FIT:0845 7741741
E: scottish.ministers@scotland.gsLgov.uk

The Scottish Government


Riaghaltas na h-Alba

Ms Kezia Dugdale MSP The Scottish Parliament EDINBURGH EH991SP

Ur faidhleNour ref: GC-16/08/11 Ar faidhle/Our ref: 2011/1014951 I September 2011

Thank you for your letter of 16 August regarding the new Chalmers sexual health centre. I was fortunate to be asked to open the centre on 31st August. While the centre is an excellent new service, as can be expected with any such significant development, there have been a number of teething problems as you point out in your letter. My officials have discussed these issues fully with NHS Lothian. I am reassured that the problems encountered are due in part to the popularity of the new centre and high demand for services. I am sure you will agree that this is a good thing. However, it is important that teething problems are addressed to ensure that this popularity continues, and that the centre remains credible and high quality. NHS Lothian have provided the following comments in response to your particular points: Queues - there have been complaints from patients regarding the queues to get into the building and then within the building. Initially this was due to a number of IT problems that reduced the service's ability to get patients onto the system quickly and then seen by a clinician. This has improved greatly over the last two months but there is still work to be done to make the patient management system work more smoothly. We expect to see improvements in this aspect over the coming months. Staffing - there has been a suggestion that reception staff coming from family planning are not trained in GUM issues.
Taigh Naomh Anndrais, Rathad Regent, Dun Eideann EH1 3DG St Andrew's House, Regent Road, Edinburgh EH1 3DG www.scotland.gov .uk

r.'\."VESTOR 1:'\1PEOPLE

..
The reception staff from family planning have operated the electronic patient management system longer than the GUM staff and are confident with the system, however, bringing together two services that saw on average 500 patients a week each is a huge administrative task. It will take time for all staff to get up to speed with the new protocols in place for the new service. On a very positive note, all clinical staff have been dual trained in the run up to the opening of the new building, working across both family planning and GUM sites for the past year so that they can competently deal with patients attending for both GUM and family planning services. Telephone system - there have been some problems with the new service which are now being addressed and this should be resolved within the next month. Patient Experience - NHS Lothian is keen to capture patients views on their use of NHS services as part of their quality improvement work. A substantial patient experience survey was undertaken with patients prior to the move to provide a baseline of patients views. This will be followed up after one year and tl]ree years as part of the evaluation of the new service~ part of NHS Lothian's continuous improvement approach the Board is also asking a sample of patients every week what they liked about the service, what wasn't good and how it could be improved. Whilst patients have expressed concerns about the telephone systems and appointments, they have overwhelmingly commented that the quality of care they have received was excellent. This is encouraging for the service.

As

The service is about to undertake some work with the Lean-in-Lothian team looking at how the patient pathway can be improved to ensure that the patients who need to be seen are seen. However, there is a broader issue around the provision of sexual health care by other services and the setting of clinical priorities for the new department will mean that some patients will be asked to go and see their GP (particularly those with routine sexual health issues). This may lead to an initial increase in complaints from patients but is a necessary task if the service is to be able to respond to those most in need of specialist sexual health services. These comments are helpful and clearly indicate that NHS Lothian is aware of an addressing the problems service users have experienced. I have asked my officials to monitor progress with this over the coming months. I hope you find this information-helpfuL

Michael Matheson

Taigh Naomh Anndrais. Rathad Regent, Dun Eideann EH13DG St Andrew's House. Regent Road. Edinburgh EHl 3DG www.scotland.gov .uk

You might also like