Following a letter to all NHS Scotland Board CEs and relevant stakeholders, and a subsequent meeting with Scottish Government officials and BMA Scotland representatives (19 May), Scottish Academy was invited (along with BMA Scotland) to set out the issues, concerns, suggestions and observations as the NHS builds back capacity to deal with urgent and routine health care whilst continuing to operate safely in the context of Covid-19.
In its document “Patients and Family at the End of Life”[i], the Scottish Academy set out ethical and practical principles to guide practice to help families when a loved one is dying. The principles include kindness, respect, fairness and minimising harm as they relate to caring for the dying and their families.
NHS Education for Scotland (NES) educational resource has launched:
‘Caring for people who are dying and those close to them amidst COVID-19 visiting restrictions – things to consider for health and social care professionals’. A link to this can be found on NES’ Support around Death website, or directly on the links below:
The Scottish Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (the ‘Scottish Academy’), the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (the ‘College’), Marie Curie and Scottish Care have co-produced new guiding principles, designed to ensure that dying patients in Scotland are treated humanely, compassionately and with dignity during the COVID-19 pandemic. They want the Scottish Government to adopt the guidelines as a matter of urgency.
NHS Education for Scotland (NES) are developing a range of educational and induction resources, which are being hosted on the 'Turas Learn' learning website.
The Scottish Academy has released a statement on revised national guidance on PPE. The guidance is issued jointly by the Department of Health and Social Care, Health Protection Scotland (HPS), Public Health Wales, Public Health Agency Northern Ireland, Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England as official guidance and is hosted on the PHE website and the HPS website.
We are all experiencing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our daily clinical practice. We are living in unprecedented times and are having to rapidly adapt the way we practice medicine in unprecedented ways too, with many parts of the NHS adopting new ways of remote working to reduce unnecessary footfall into our general practices and hospitals.
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland (the "Scottish Academy") has published its strategic priorities to 2023. The Scottish Academy promotes and co-ordinates the work of the Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties and gives the medical professions a collective voice on clinical and professional issues in Scotland.
Issued on behalf of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland
Scottish Academy statement on Caring for doctors, Caring for patients
The Scottish Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has considered concerns expressed about the medical workforce in Scotland and the issues related to these. The workforce challenges in the NHS now present a greater threat to health services than the funding challenges.
This paper is an attempt to set out and explain factors that are combining to create a situation where the imbalance of workforce and workload is unsustainable. It is intended as a working document to which additions and retractions can be made as the workforce climate changes in a politically unpredictable time.
