I have sent this open letter to the Chair of Healthcare Improvement Scotland and copied it to the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland:
2nd July 2018.
Dear Dame Coia,
Healthcare Improvement Scotland and Realistic Medicine
This is an open letter to you which I have copied to the Chief Medical Officer.
The Chief Medical Officer’s Realistic Medicine initiative has always had my full support. Now that this is being more fully reported in the media, for example in the Scotland on Sunday, 1 July 2018, perhaps this is the time to see this initiative being taken forward in NHS Scotland. The Chief Medical Officer was quoted in this article “clinicians need to be aware of the times we might be doing more harm by over-treating people without a beneficial outcome”.
I would be grateful if you could share with me examples of HIS improvement initiatives which have resulted in reductions in unnecessary or harmful interventions.
The weekend’s newspapers also highlighted ongoing financial pressures across NHS Scotland. Realistic Medicine could help address this: however it is essential that there is openness about current allocation of resources including to international organisations such as the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Boston, USA.
Your perspectives on these matters would be most welcome
Yours sincerely
Dr Peter J. Gordon
c.c. Dr Catherine Calderwood, Chief Medical Officer, Scottish Government
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