Standards group remit
There is continuing commitment to the development of managed clinical networks as a way of organising the delivery of services to specific patient groups. 'Delivering for health' made a number of explicit recommendations on the future of neurosurgery services for Scotland, one of which was that the service 'should be integrated across specialist, secondary and primary care using the managed clinical network model, and will be provided as locally as possible, with explicit standards of care across the integrated care pathway'.
This was informed by the work of the action team who concluded that explicit standards for the neurosurgery service should be agreed, including a mechanism for assessment against these standards. There was recognition that the standards should be based on the SBNS standards (Standards for patients requiring neurosurgical care, Joint Standards Development Group of the Clinical Standards Committee of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons and Regional Specialised Service Commissioning Group, August 2002) currently being used elsewhere in the UK, ensuring both relevance to the Scottish service and comparability with other units. It was agreed that the neurosurgery centres should work collaboratively to address areas for improvement, sharing good practice and developing action plans.
- The short-term priority for the group is to refine the current SBNS standards as required and reach agreement that they are appropriate and adequate to assess the Scottish service.
- The group should agree and design a method for assessment of the service against these standards and recommend how best to carry out this assessment.
- The group should investigate what standards and guidelines are being applied locally and promote consistency throughout the service.
- The group should use its findings from assessment against the standards to make recommendations for improvement, sharing good practice and developing action plans for change.
Progress reports