NHS Lanarkshire approves improvements to Treatment Room Service

Oct 20 2011 by Leona Greenan, Hamilton Advertiser

CHANGES are to be made to NHS Lanarkshires Treatment Room Service following a review and consultation.

The NHS Lanarkshire Board recently approved proposals to try to improve quality of care provided by treatment rooms by standardising practice and increasing the available appointments for patients.

Comments were sought from the public, staff, GPs, MSPs, councillors and others.

And as a result of the feedback, a number of key changes will now be made.

Anne Armstrong, divisional director of Nursing Primary Care, NHS Lanarkshire, said: When we carried out the review, we found wide variation in how treatment rooms run across Lanarkshire, both in how they operated and the treatments they provided.

It was clear that we could not deliver an effective and equitable service to patients if we did not make changes to the service.

The feedback has ensured we have in place sound plans to provide a high quality and effective treatment room service to patients.

Treatment rooms provide practical treatments and interventions such as injections, leg ulcer management, wound management, dressings and specimen collection.

The review found that:

lA variation in the number of treatment rooms, operating hours and range of treatments across Lanarkshire;

lDistrict nurses were assisting the service which reduced their ability to care for housebound patients;

lPatients sometimes waited a long time on arrival;

lSome patients who went to the treatment room for phlebotomy also attended Keep Well, the coronary heart disease care programme leading to duplication.

Changes to the service however, will include a new system of appointments with some availability for urgent appointments.

And district nurses will no longer be involved in treatment rooms increasing their time to see housebound patients.

It is also planned to introduce new treatment rooms in the Hamilton area as well as peripatetic phlebotomy services to individual GP practices.

This will include a new NHS Lanarkshire treatment room service at Hamiltons Douglas Street Community Health Clinic and at Larkhall Health Clinic. A further new treatment room at a second site in Hamilton, is still to be determined.

lCurrently the district nurses provide treatment room services on a part-time basis at: The Surgery, Union Street, Larkhall, and the following practices in Hamilton: Low Watters Medical Centre, Cadzow Health Centre, Burnbank Road Surgery and Oak Lodge Surgery.

The practices providing their own phlebotomy and treatment room services on a part-time basis are Lincluden Surgery in Uddingston, Bothwell Medical Centre and the following practices in Hamilton: Burnbank Medical Centre, Portland Park Surgery, Wellhall Medical Centre and Douglas Street Surgery.