National Centre for Sustainable Delivery Newsletter Summer 2023
Welcome to the Summer 2023 newsletter from the National Centre for Sustainable Delivery!
Green Theatres
Public launch of National Green Theatres Programme
We publicly launched the National Green Theatres Programme in May when Public Health Minister Jenni Minto visited Raigmore Hospital in Inverness to see the NHS Highland green theatres programme.
Ground-breaking medical gases programme wins inaugural European sustainability award
A programme to reduce the environmental impact of medical gases across NHS Scotland has won the Health Care Without Harm European Sustainable Healthcare Project of the Year.
The clinically-led Green Anaesthesia Scotland project, which is now part of our Centre for Sustainable Delivery’s National Green Theatres Programme, was announced the winner at the inaugural European Sustainable Healthcare Awards in Berlin on 7 June.
National Green Theatres Programme Clinical Lead Dr Kenneth Barker was in Berlin to pick up the award.
Green Theatres actions
The first bundle of opportunities for change have been sent out to Boards with specific details of the positive impact of implementing these locally.
Click here to access our green theatres action bundles on our website.
Click here to find out more about our National Green Theatres Programme.
Innovation
Increasing access to diabetes technology
Our Innovation team will be setting up a national team to accelerate the distribution of life-changing diabetes Closed Loop Systems across NHS Scotland.
The will see a dedicated team created by our Innovation team to support NHS health boards to rollout the technology to people with type 1 diabetes faster and more efficiently across Scotland.
New national digital dermatology programme
A new national digital dermatology programme will be launched by our Innovation team to help speed up treatment and reduce waiting lists.
This new programme could potentially reduce demand for outpatient dermatology appointments by up to 50 per cent with the potential for up to 90 percent of referrals across Scotland to include a digital image.
Click here to find out more about our Innovation work.
Modernising patient pathways
Cataracts – New Toolkit to support Blueprint for Success
A new toolkit has been published to support Boards to implement ‘Improving the Delivery of Cataract Surgery in Scotland: a Blueprint for Success’.
This toolkit supplements the blueprint with 10 steps to success, providing practical examples from Boards that have implemented improvements and links to useful resources.
We have recently presented the cataract blueprint at the NHS Scotland Event, Chief Medical Officer’s Realistic Medicine Conference and the UK Ophthalmology Alliance National Meeting.
Click here to access the Cataract Blueprint and supporting Toolkit.
Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA)
We have published the first NHS Scotland Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm national pathway.
This creates a single pathway with clear timescales for diagnosis and treatment of all AAA and recommends Boards have dedicated local coordinators and ‘one stop’ pre-assessment clinics.
Click here to find out more about our Vascular Surgery Specialty Delivery Group and its work.
Neurology
A national headache pathway is being developed and is currently in its final consultation period.
A group has been established to develop a national pathway for Functional Neurological Disorder (FND).
Look out for more information on these pathways over the next few months.
New specialty web pages
We are continuing to introduce specialty delivery group pages on our website.
The following new pages have been added since our last newsletter:
High impact changes
We are continuing to update our website with information on high impact changes that can be implemented across a wide range of specialties.
We work with the Specialty Delivery Groups (SDGs) to ensure that these changes are implemented and use Heat Map meetings with individual Boards to make sure the benefits are realised for patients across Scotland.
Click here to find out more about high impact change programmes.
Click here to find out more about our Modernising Patient Pathways work.
Earlier Cancer Diagnosis
Our website has been updated in line with publication of the Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023 - 2033 and Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 - 2026.
Our Earlier Cancer Diagnosis Team played an integral role in the development of the strategy particularly the ‘earlier and faster’ chapter, and will now be responsible for delivering these actions
Click here to find out more about our Earlier Cancer Diagnosis work.
National Elective Coordination Unit
Our National Elective Coordination Unit team is continuing to support Boards to address the current planned care waiting list backlog by providing a consistent approach to national capacity assessment and allocation.
We will continue to support Boards through our waiting list validation programmes over the coming months.
Strategic Planning and Programme Management Office
Our Strategic Planning and Programme Management Office provides a key service in developing our strategies and work plans.
Annual plan
Our annual work plan for 2023/24 has been developed and is going through the governance and approval process over the coming weeks
3-year strategic plan
Our 3-year strategic plan is in its final stages of development and will go through our governance routes for approval over the coming months.
Board engagement process
We have recently developed and implemented a new Board Engagement standard operating process to support our National Director, National Associate Directors, and National Associate Clinical Directors with key data and management information when meeting with health boards.
National pathway register
We are developing a registry system and establishing an accessible repository for tracking and reviewing national pathways from initiation through to publishing and review.
Value and impact
We are providing education and support to embed value, impact and benefits realisation into all CfSD programmes at an early stage.
Other news
NHS Scotland Event session
We were delighted to run a lunchtime session at the NHS Scotland Event 2023 in Glasgow.
Green, Lean and Clean: New Approaches to Theatre Resource was a showcase of how we are leading nationally to support Boards around theatre resources and show how measurable and sustainable improvement can be achieved.
Click here to find out more about our session and speakers.
CfSD in the Chief Medical Officer’s Annual Report
A number of CfSD programmes feature in the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland Annual Report 2022–2023.
The report:
- Highlights how the CfSD Heat Map approach has captured data for Active Clinical Referral Triage (ACRT) and Patient Initiated Review (PIR).
- Shows the impact of the Breast Pain Pathway.
- Demonstrates the impact of ACRT on the number of patients waiting for gastroenterology in NHS Forth Valley.
- Features the National Green Theatre Programme as an example of su
