A senior Liberal Democrat Fife councillor has welcomed NHS Tayside’s “change of heart” over two north-east Fife patients being allowed to attend the pain clinic at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee but has warned that the needs of patients should come before those of the service providers.
Councillor Tim Brett said he was “very pleased” that NHS Tayside have agreed to see Roderick Stewart from Newport, who was refused access to the Ninewells service in September last year and expected to travel to Dunfermline instead.
Mr Brett said a second patient from Tayport, who was also already attending a Ninewells clinic has been advised that, if her GP wishes, she can also be re-referred to the Ninewells pain clinic.
But Mr Brett said concerns remained.
He said: “I have had a further letter from NHS Tayside setting out arrangements for pain clinic services in Tayside and Fife.
“In it, they indicate that there has been discussion between the two teams responsible for these services and that it was ‘agreed’ that Fife patients should be seen at the pain clinic in Dunfermline.
“This is based on the need for a multi-disciplinary approach for patients with chronic pain but would still mean that patients from north-east Fife who could more easily access the Ninewells service would have to make a 70-mile round trip to Dunfermline.”
Mr Brett said he felt this decision had not been properly made.
He added: “I shall be following this up with both NHS Tayside and NHS Fife as I still believe strongly that patients should be referred to any service where the GP feels that this would be of benefit to the patient.”
In her letter, NHS Tayside chief executive Lesley McLay said: “NHS Tayside historically treated north-east Fife patients referred into Tayside Specialist Pain Services, and access to the other disciplines required to ensure a coordinated approach to pain was undertaken on a uni-disciplinary referral basis to Fife services including the Fife pain psychology service and other disciplines that support the management of pain as part of the patient’s pathway.
“This approach was not aligned to the principles of the Scottish Pain Model as the separate components delivered in each area were not structured in a multidisciplinary way.
“Both NHS boards have engaged in significant improvement programmes to redesign their pain services to implement and deliver the Scottish Pain Model.”
She continued: “I am informed that as a result of this, it has been increasingly difficult for NHS Tayside Specialist Pain team to work effectively across borders, as access to the relevant components of the Fife Pain service is no longer accessible and thus north-east Fife patients were considered not to be receiving optimum care and ongoing management.”