Scottish rheumatology services understaffed says findings in new report

 Nine out of ten Scottish health professionals working in rheumatology units say that their service in not sufficiently staffed. Rheumatology in Scotland: The State of Play, is a new report, just launched, which is based on a survey of members of the Scottish Society for Rheumatology (SSR) and the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR).

These two bodies represent the healthcare professionals caring for patients with conditions ranging from rheumatoid arthritis, to gout and lupus. In the report it was found that the roles considered most understaffed included specialist nurses, rheumatology trainees and allied health professionals.

Other key findings in the report include:

• 88% felt Scotland’s rural geography creates challenges for patient access to rheumatology services;
• Only a quarter reported their rheumatology service working in the community, and just 9% stated there was collaboration with social services;
• Just 31% believed that services were adequately addressing the need of patients with rare rheumatic conditions ;
• 89% recommended that training to identify rheumatic conditions needed to be spread more widely to other health and care professionals;
• Only 26% of respondents believed their service ensured that accurate and detailed data were collected about patient activity, diagnoses and outcomes.

The BSR and SSR have made a number of recommendations in response to the feedback received from its membership. The report says that exposure to musculoskeletal disorders (RMDs) through general medical and GP training would improve referral rates, provide GPs with confidence in providing self-care and increase recruitment into speciality.

The BSR and the SSR recommends a review of medical staffing levels to address the apparently consultant shortfall in targeted areas, and ring fence funding for specialised rheumatology nurses and allied health professionals.

The report also included examples of best practice, such as the SSR’s online audit and the Scottish Paediatric and Adolescent Rheumatology Network both of which are winners of the BSR’s Best Practice Awards 2016.

SSR President, Dr Elizabeth Murphy, says “This report helps shine a light on the key challenges facing rheumatology services in delivering care to patients across Scotland. Despite these challenges, our members continue to provide high quality services to their patients, which is a testament to their hard work and endeavour. The last decade has seen enormous advances in the drug treatments available for our patients and we need to ensure that our services are set up to deliver these treatments to the maximum benefit of patients. A number of issues have emerged, which if ignored, could result in poorer outcomes for patients. The report sets out a series of recommendations to address these issues and the SSR and BSR will look to work with policy makers, Rheumatology teams and patients from across Scotland on how to take these forward.”

BSR President, Professor Simon Bowman adds, “The Rheumatology in Scotland report provides a real insight into the pressures facing rheumatology services, but also offers practical solutions on how to overcome them. Much can be learnt from our members in Scotland on how to address these issues and we urge policy makers to work with patients and professionals to rise to the significant challenges outlined in this report.”

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