Will You Travel 200 Miles For Hospital Care, Parents Asked

By The Herald17th January 2007News Scotland

Parents are being asked if they would accept a journey of more than 200 miles for their children to receive specialist hospital treatment.

A panel set up by the Scottish Executive to plan the future of child healthcare is questioning how far families are willing to travel for expert medical attention.

Now a survey has been launched asking for views on this and a range of other issues – such as how well NHS staff communicate with children.

Answers will influence the composition of the new children’s hospitals due to be built in Glasgow and Edinburgh and the future of paediatric services in other towns and cities, particularly Aberdeen.

The survey comes amid staff shortages that are creating pressure to centralise some children’s surgery and cancer treatment. Families already have to travel across Scotland to see child health specialists in certain medical fields. Paediatric heart services are provided for the country from the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow.

However, with fewer general surgeons training to carry out common procedures in children – such as appendix removals – these operations could also be tugged into fewer specialist centres.

Professor George Youngson, a panel member, said: “It is beginning to happen now. There are areas, for example in Fife, where a child under 12 will not get his appendix taken out. Unless preventative work is done it will be absolute crisis in 10 years’ time.”

By discussing this issue with staff now and searching for solutions, he said he hoped this could be avoided.

In paediatric cancer care, consultants are currently spread across three sites and the teams struggle to meet the recommended staff numbers.

Sir Alan Craft, panel member and lead on cancer, said patient safety and the desire for children to be treated close to home were key drivers behind his work.

However, he added: “In a world where you had as many resources as you wanted, you could look after everyone everywhere, but given we have got limited resources you have to concentrate your activity.

“Things like shorter working hours for doctors and new ways of training, these are all causing us to look at how we provide services.”

The survey, available on the web, asks respondents to prioritise issues important to them when accessing child health services. The options include seeing specialist staff close to home, having flexible appointment times and being able to park at the venue.

Next, it asks: “If you had to travel to a specialist children’s and young people’s service, how far would be acceptable?” The options range from under 50 miles to more than 200.

Sir Alan said: “If you talk to parents they would travel to the ends of the earth if they knew they were going to get better treatment.”

However, Dr Pat Carragher, medical director of the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland, said any parent would want to reduce the amount of time their sick child had to spend travelling.

He said: “A balance is required providing appropriate, dedicated specialist services in the appropriate centre, while minimalising travelling time”

Dr Robert Cumming, chairman of the Scottish Health Campaigns Network which unites groups opposing the centralisation of hospital services, said, if children had to travel for specialist treatment, provision should be made on site for a parent to stay with them.

Lewis Macdonald, Deputy Health Minister, said Scotland had a great opportunity to get specialist services for children and young people right for the 21st century.

He said: “We are asking people what they think is good about the service and what needs to be improved based around a number of topics.”

The survey is available for completion until Wednesday, February 7.