S6W-26792

Asked by: Wells, Annie (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Glasgow)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government how the 12 commitments in the Respiratory Care Action Plan have been prioritised, and which commitments have been achieved.

Answered by Minto, Jenni - Minister for Public Health and Women's Health

Since the publication of Respiratory Care Action Plan (RCAP) for Scotland, we have established the Scottish Respiratory Advisory Committee (SRAC) to oversee its implementation. The key priorities identified were: increasing access to pulmonary rehabilitation; developing a respiratory core data set and developing best practice guidance for children living with asthma and transitioning to adult services.

Sub-groups were established to take this work forward. The Transitions sub-group have produced their recommendations for best practice, and these have been shared with key stakeholders in order to improve consistency across the country.

We are working closely with Public Health Scotland and are currently in the early stages of developing a national respiratory audit, which will help to better identify areas of improvement and track progress across Scotland.

In September 2023, the British Thoracic Society published their refreshed pulmonary rehab guidelines, we are considering how best we can support its implementation across Scotland. We are also working closely with the Scottish Pulmonary Rehab Advisory Group (SPRAG) and the Respiratory Specialty Delivery Group within the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) in order to determine how we can best support improvements in pulmonary rehab services across Scotland.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery are also developing national pathways for respiratory conditions including severe asthma; COPD and sleep apnoea. This work aligns closely with the RCAP and we will continue to ensure that close links continue.