Primary care
Primary care is provided by your local doctor, dentist, pharmacist, optician, midwife, health visitor or allied health professional (AHP) and is healthcare you would not receive in a hospital setting. It is often your first point of contact when you have a health issue and that’s why it is fundamental to ensure that the best standard of care possible is given at this point.
The Scottish Executive’s paper ‘Delivering for health’ calls for more care to be moved from the hospital setting into the community. We are committed to ensuring that our work reflects and supports this shift of focus.
Our strategic framework and action plan detail how we support ‘Delivering for health’. When developing the framework we consulted with the public and those working in community and primary healthcare services as well as representatives from the Scottish Executive.
Out of hours
Our report on primary medical services outside of normal hours reviewed the performance of every NHS board against national standards of quality and safety.
We found that NHS staff are to be praised for how they have implemented the new out-of-hours system and found that progress towards full implementation of the standards is generally good. The introduction of telephone access and triage as the main route to healthcare services out-of-hours has meant that safe, reliable care can now be provided around the clock throughout Scotland.
We recommend that services demonstrate that risks are well managed and lessons are learned from experience. Risk management and clinical governance arrangements have to be strengthened, particularly in relation to giving information by telephone, and should be integrated with existing systems.
Allied health professionals
We continue to support our Allied health profession (AHP) network. The network is ever adapting to meet the needs of staff delivering patient care. To celebrate the network’s second birthday we published our first report, charting its development. The report’s launch event was attended by around 90 AHPs from across Scotland and was an opportunity to engage productively with frontline AHPs who deliver a diverse range of services across Scotland.
Expert opinion -“The allied health professionals network that NHS QIS established allows me to discuss and review aspects of clinical practice, to share ideas, and provides a valuable role in supporting clinicians in developing their practice with the ultimate aim of improving outcomes for patients.
“As an occupational therapy lecturer within Glasgow Caledonian University, the network allows me to communicate with other occupational therapists and ensures that I am aware of current issues relating to practice and can discuss these with the students in order to develop their knowledge and understanding of the context in which they will be practising.”
Sandra Robertson, Occupational Therapy Lecturer, Glasgow Caledonian University
Further reading
Access the Scottish Executive’s Delivering for Health