Latest news with #NHSForthValley
Daily Record
3 days ago
- Health
- Daily Record
Minister makes Stirling visit as improved CAMHS waiting times hailed
The health board had come under scrutiny for the amount of time children and young people were waiting for mental health support - but data shows an improvement in the last 18 months. Recent steps taken in Forth Valley to cut down on waiting times for children and young people seeking vital mental health support have been praised on a visit by a Scottish Government minister. Waiting times for the region's Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services had been a previous area of crisis for local health chiefs, with ministers placing it into direct oversight over a number of concerns, including the state of the CAMHS offering. At that point in November 2022, more than 40 per cent of those still waiting for assessment by CAMHS had been doing so for more than a year. But following concerted efforts and a new plan to tackle the service's waiting times, the most recent figures for the first quarter of 2025 have revealed a major turnaround, with no patients now waiting more than the national standard of 18 weeks for support. The local data for the period between January and March this year also outlined that a whopping 99.1 per cent of those starting treatment in the last three months had only been waiting a maximum of 18 weeks to do so. On a visit to the Stirling Health and Care Village on Tuesday, the Mental Wellbeing Minister Maree Todd met with families making use of the service, as well as staff and NHS Forth Valley's Allan Rennie and Helena Marshall. During the visit, Ms Todd said: 'We want all children and young people to be able to access appropriate mental health treatment as and when they need to, and this continued progress on waiting times is testament to the hard-working staff who care for those referred to these services. 'We have exceeded our promise to provide funding for 320 additional staff for CAMHS by 2026 and this will no doubt have contributed to the improvements we are seeing but I am well aware there is still much to be done if this is to be sustained and consistent across Scotland. 'However, we are on the right path and the £123.5 million we have allocated to NHS Boards this year will mean the quality and delivery of all mental health services – including CAMHS - will continue to improve.' The turnaround in CAMHS provision has been linked to a 'radical new approach' made in Forth Valley - including the introduction of a Choice and Partnership (CAPA) approach aimed at increasing the range of treatment options available, maximising capacity and improve the management and monitoring of demand and capacity. Lesley Dunabie, Department Manager and Head of Nursing for NHS Forth Valley CAMHS, said: 'We are delighted that the changes introduced by local staff over the last 18 months have made such a positive impact to our waiting times and significantly improved the services and support available for children and young people with serious mental illness. 'We are committed to building on this by continuing to develop and improve local services for children and young people and working with a wide range of partners to help increase access to support in local schools and communities at an earlier stage.'
Daily Record
29-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Record
Finance chiefs at NHS Forth Valley table cuts plan to tackle £38m funding gap
Forth Valley health chiefs are battling to bridge a funding gap. Finance chiefs have drawn up a rigorous programme of cuts within NHS Forth Valley to address a £38m funding gap for 2025-26 as the board aim to break even next year. The moves were confirmed on Tuesday by NHS Director of Finance Scott Urquhart. He said: 'The 2025/26 Financial Position Based on current financial planning assumptions, together with the impact of recurring pressures and unachieved recurring savings carried forward from 2024-25, a funding gap before savings of £38m (4.9 per cent of our recurring baseline budget) has been identified for 2025-26. 'A range of cost improvement plans and efficiency initiatives have been developed to mitigate the £38.0m gap with an aim to achieve break-even. 'Implementation of the overall savings plan is being overseen by the Financial Stewardship Group and regular progress updates will be provided to the Strategic Planning, Performance & Resources Committee and the NHS Board during the course of the year. 'The Scottish Government have approved our financial plan for 2025-26 and have acknowledged the level of savings required.' The board will continue to work closely with Scottish Government colleagues as part of the forthcoming Service Renewal Framework and to support a shift in resources towards prevention and digital enablement as we work towards a more financially sustainable system. A £2.2m revenue overspend is reported for the first month of the 2024-25 financial year. This is of concern at this early stage in the year and prompt corrective action is required to address this in the first quarter. Financial implications are continuing in this position, a number of outstanding revenue allocations have been anticipated and included in the month one budgets pending confirmation from the Scottish Government. 'In the meantime, an overspend of £2.2m is reported against the budget for the month of April. The vast majority of this reflects significant pressures in the Acute Services Directorate, particularly in relation to medical pay costs which are overspent by £1.1m and unregistered nurse pay costs which are overspent by £0.3m at this early stage in the year. 'Pressures are also reported against drugs costs (£700,000 overspent, mainly within oncology), unachieved historic savings targets from prior years (£614,000) together with overspends against equipment (£100,000) and surgical sundry budgets (£100,00). Among the overspends in the first month of the financial year are: £2,954m in Acute Services and £608,000 in Women and Children's Services. A small number of savings totalling £3m have still to be identified at this stage.
Daily Record
28-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Record
Pharmacy plan for Forth Valley takes aim at wasted prescriptions
Conversations with pharmacists can help patients and save the NHS money Nearly 50,000 people across the NHS Forth Valley area are not taking their medication as prescribed, a report on local pharmacy services has estimated. National research has shown that around half of all medicines are not taken as prescribed, particularly where people are taking more than four medicines. In the Forth Valley area - Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire - nearly 97,000 people take five or more medicines, which leads pharmacy experts locally to conclude that more than 48,000 residents will not be taking them as instructed. The figure astonished members of NHS Forth Valley's board, who were considering the Pharmaceutical Care Service Plan at their May meeting. The report offered a picture of the range, nature and quality of pharmaceutical care provided with NHS Forth Valley, in a bid to identify any gaps or unmet needs. The Falkirk area has 34 community pharmacies, serving a population that is estimated to grow by 3.7 per cent by 2029-30. However, the report estimates that the 75+ year population is projected to increase by 98 per cent by 2037 in the Falkirk Health and Social Care Partnership area, which will have a significant impact on local services. The board heard that pharmacies are increasingly playing a key role in delivering frontline healthcare at a time when services are increasingly stretched. The Pharmacy First initiative - previously known as the Minor Ailments Service - promotes the value of local chemists to patients needing advice on common health complaints. The Pharmacy First Plus service - now available in 26 chemists in Forth Valley - means some pharmacists can issue prescriptions for common ailments that would normally require a visit to GP, such as skin complaints and UTIs. However, the national figures show that there is a huge issue around waste and the report highlights the role that pharmacy teams can play in reducing medicines being prescribed and then not used or taken incorrectly. The report explains that many drugs in common use can cause problems, while adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are implicated in 5 - 17 per cent of all hospital admissions. Patients on multiple medications are more likely to suffer drug side effects and those who are on medications deemed to be high risk are most at risk of a hospital admission. Board members were keen to know what is happening locally to tackle the problem. The director of pharmacy in Forth Valley, Laura Byrne, told members that work is ongoing to address waste in particular with a "robust polypharmacy plan". "There are a number of projects going on across Forth Valley," she said, highlighting in particular the work of the team in Falkirk Community Hospital's pharmacy, which recently won a national award. Their work over the last ten months has delivered around £140,000 worth of savings, which also had "all the added benefits around patient-centred care". A polypharmacy pilot in various GP surgeries has also delivered benefits for patient care and safety as well as savings. Pharmacy in acute services have struggled in the past with staff vacancies but in recent months they have managed to recruit and they are now working on specialists posts, supporting pharmacists to become advanced practitioners. Ms Byrne told the board that their work, reviewing patients' prescriptions, had found a number of savings as treatments had been optimised. "That wasn't the aim of it, but what we are looking to do is to scale that up across our specialities," she said. Dr Andrew Murray, NHS Forth Valley's medical director, said it was important to remember that it is a long-standing and well-known fact that many patients deliberately do not take medicines as they have been prescribed and it is difficult to influence that. He said: "We need to understand that approximately 50 per cent of all prescriptions are not adhered with throughout the developed world. "At least half of those are deliberate - people deciding they are not going to comply." "We can influence it to an extent, through realistic medicine, shared decision making and making sure people who are not actually ever going to take that medicine have that conversation up front so we can find ways for them to manage their symptoms." The board also heard that a communication campaign had been running to try to reduce waste, with key messages such as asking people to only order what they need and to check their bags before leaving a community pharmacy. There will be another campaign to get the messages across in the year ahead. The plan highlights the numerous ways pharmacies are now involved in health care, from providing advice to care homes to supporting people dependent on opiates and other substances. Ms Byrne said the pharmacy care plan was an important way to analyse what services are available and look at how any gaps can be addressed. She said: "Through this analysis we are thinking 'what else do we need to be doing to try and bring care local to patients actually keep them away from out-of-hours and front door, and keep them well at home."
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Ministers step up scrutiny of NHS Grampian over spending concerns
The Scottish government is to increase scrutiny on NHS Grampian over concerns about its finances and governance. The health board has been escalated to stage four out of five on NHS Scotland's National Performance Framework. Health Secretary Neil Gray said there were "continuing concerns" about NHS Grampian's financial management. The health board said it welcomed the additional support and would work to "ensure sustained improvement". It was announced last month that NHS Grampian would receive a Scottish government loan of more than £67m to tackle an overspend. The Scottish government said the health board had been escalated to stage four following concerns about the board's "financial position, plans, leadership and governance and the impact these may have on the delivery of local services". Gray said NHS Grampian staff were working "tirelessly" but warned of "continuing concerns about financial management and associated operational pressures". He said ministers would increase scrutiny on the health board and work with it to "ensure sustained improvement". Gray said: "This will include a whole system diagnostic to be carried out by an external consultancy to help inform a tailored package of support." He added: "I am confident that, through these actions, we will soon have a clear plan to stabilise the system and set the right conditions for the necessary, longer term transformational work." He said the key aim was to ensure the "sustainable delivery of high quality healthcare services for the benefit of local people". An NHS Grampian spokesperson said: "As we continue to work closely with the Scottish government to ensure sustained improvement in our performance, we would like to acknowledge the tireless efforts of our staff and reassure the public that their care remains our priority." Health boards can move up and down the performance scale, and different levels of government support apply to each stage. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Forth Valley were both at stage four in recent years. NHS Grampian given £67m Scottish government loan NHS Grampian in 'extremely challenging' position Government to have 'oversight' of NHS Forth Valley The five-step process to keep NHS boards in line
Daily Record
02-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Record
NHS Forth Valley unveils new 'rapid' cancer diagnostic service
The service is designed to speed up referrals for possible patients whose symptoms don't meet the normal criteria for referrals to cancer treatment pathways. A new service designed at speeding up cancer referrals for those whose symptoms don't meet the normal criteria has been introduced in the region. NHS Forth Valley has introduced the new Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service (RCDS) aims to provide quicker answers for patience and offer peace of mind for many, who will end up getting the positive news that they don't have cancer. According to health chiefs, the primary goal is to rule out cancer quickly, reduce uncertainty, and ensure that anyone who does need further care is identified and treated without delay. Dr. Jonathan Begley, NHS Forth Valley Clinical Lead for the RCDS, said: 'Early cancer diagnosis is a key focus across Scotland. By speeding up the process of diagnosis and treatment, we can improve cancer outcomes and ensure patients get the support they need as quickly as possible. 'The new service relies on collaboration between doctors, nurses, and specialists. The key steps in the process include early identification, quick referrals, thorough assessments, coordinated testing, and timely diagnosis. 'Referrals to the new service are made via primary care ie. patients will be referred to the RCDS by their GP or Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP). Before the referral, patients will have a physical examination and blood tests to help determine whether further investigation is needed. 'Patients should inform their GP or ANP if they will be unavailable for the next three weeks (for example, if they're going on holiday) as appointments for the RCDS are usually scheduled quickly.' Forth Valley joins five other health boards from across Scotland - those being Fife, Dumfries & Galloway, Ayrshire & Arran, Lanarkshire and Borders - in offering the service. Scottish Government ministers have also been working to ensure access for all patients across the country for a faster pathway, as well as ensuring progress on earlier cancer diagnosis rates and outcomes. Health Secretary Neil Gray said: 'Improving cancer services remains a key priority for the Scottish Government, as outlined in our 10-year cancer strategy. 'Evidence shows that Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services play a crucial role in enabling earlier diagnosis and improving the experience of care for patients with non-specific but concerning symptoms. 'The launch of this new RCDS in NHS Forth Valley marks another important step towards delivering more timely and person-centred cancer services across Scotland. 'By expanding access to these innovative pathways, we are helping ensure better outcomes for people diagnosed with cancer, while providing earlier reassurance to those that have cancer ruled out.'
