§ Dr. Moonieasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what his Department is doing to encourage early discharge from hospital following surgical procedures.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythExplicit advice on detailed aspects of clinical practice is not normally given by the Department but by the royal colleges and other sources within the profession itself. More general advice is given in, for example, reports from the National Medical Consultative Committee which are published through the Scottish Health Service Planning Council and the Department. The recently published report on the management of orthopaedic services in Scotland is an example of this.
The appropriate use of clinical resources of all kinds including acute post-operative care is a central aspect of the work of the clinical resource use group set up recently under the chairmanship of the chief medical officer with members drawn from a number of professional medical fields.