Cabinet Secretary Statement:
Change to C.N.A guidance

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing made a statement on NHS Waiting Times - Abolition of Availability Status Codes to the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday 19 September 2007. In her speech the Cabinet Secretary advised that she had decided to change one element of the ‘New Ways’ rules.

Under the existing plans, a patient was entitled to rearrange agreed dates for an outpatient appointment or for a hospital admission once, but if they wanted to arrange a second time the hospital could, if they wished, return the patient to the care of their GP. The Cabinet Secretary stated that she was not convinced that this represented a fair balance between the interests of the patient and the NHS and has therefore decided that a patient should be able to rearrange agreed dates not once, but twice. She believes this approach strikes the right balance in providing flexibility for patients while encouraging patients not to waste NHS time through repeatedly cancelling and rearranging appointments.

Following the statement, the guidance relating to 'Could Not Attend' has been changed. A patient may now be referred back to the care of their GP, if appropriate, if seeking to rearrange a third or subsequent appointment or admission date.  All guidance relating to 'Could Not Attend' or 'CNA' on the New Ways website is currently being updated to reflect this change. The publications ‘Applying the Scottish Executive Health Department Guidance’ , ‘An Introduction to New Ways for NHS Staff and Contractors’ and the desktop guide will be updated to reflect this change.

A letter to NHS Board Chief Executives draws attention to key points in the Statement, some of which will need action by Boards. A news release and a Question and Answer briefing was distributed to MSPs and the news media. The letter, the news release and the Q&A are available at: http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/4581.html

Patient Information

The patient leaflet for New Ways 'Hospital appointments and waiting times explained' and the accompanying poster 'Help us to help you' are now available to order. Copies of the leaflet and the poster have been sent to every GP practice The Cabinet Secretary also issued a letter to all GPs drawing their attention to the new approach and asking them to ensure that patients received a copy of the information leaflet when a decision to refer them for an outpatient appointment is made. All NHS Health Boards have placed orders for leaflets or are in the process of placing orders via their New Ways leads. If you require material, in the first instance please speak to your local New Ways lead to see if there are copies already available locally. If you then wish to place an order, details of quantities and delivery location and contact should be e-mailed to newways@isd.csa.scot.nhs.uk. A Braille version of the leaflet is currently being produced, and a large print version will be available shortly.

To find about more about the patient material: http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/5051.html