This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Redesign for neurology services
26/05/2004
A £3 million redesign of neurology services patients was unveiled today.
At a conference launching the Neurological Alliance of Scotland in Edinburgh, Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm said:
"I am delighted to announce that the Centre for Change and Innovation will shortly be launching a national redesign initiative in Neurology as part of its national Outpatients Programme.
"The initiative will attract funding of almost £3 million over a period of eighteen months and is designed to drive forward service improvement in Neurology Outpatient services across Scotland.
"The CCI will be inviting the four specialist centres in Neurology centres in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow to work with neighbouring NHS boards to identify areas where change and innovation are needed."
The Neurological Alliance of Scotland and the Scottish Association of Neurologists and Clinical Neurophysiologists have been invited to join the project board to oversee the initiative.
The Neurological Alliance of Scotland is a forum of not-for-profit organisations and groups representing people affected by neurological conditions in Scotland.
The Alliance has received a grant to help with start up costs and the acting office bearers are:
- Mark Hazelwood (MS Society Scotland) Chair
- Craig Stockton (Scottish Motor Neurone Disease Association) Vice Chair
- Richard O'Grady (Parkinson's Disease Society) Treasurer
- Sophie Pilgrim (MS Society Scotland) Secretary.
Other organisations represented are: the Muscular Dystrpohy Campaign, the Neurological Alliance, the Dystonia Society, Epilepsy West Lothian and the Scottish Huntington's Association.
Mr Chisholm also announced that the Executive is to set up a working group to look at chronic disease management as part of the National Framework for Service Change.
He said:
"Chronic disease, which includes neurological conditions, can have a major impact on the way in which care is delivered. And I want organisations like the Neurological Alliance to play their part in contributing to the development and implementation of how that care is delivered.
"The National Framework, which that I recently announced , will focus on the needs of patients, encouraging integration of care and equity of access across Scotland. It will strike a balance between the provision of complex care of the highest standard and the principle of local access wherever possible.
"However, chronic conditions can impact across a number of ways in which care is delivered and because of that the Executive is setting up a working group that will look at models in other parts of the world and how they might apply in Scotland.
"This is very much about things like making the best possible use of staff and building, for example, on the crucial role that nurse specialists now play in the management of neurological conditions.
"The establishment of the Neurological Alliance comes at just the right time to play into this work. This is in keeping with the Scottish Compact, the formal agreement between the Executive and voluntary sector, which aims to ensure the voluntary sector can contribute to the development and implementation of national policy."