healthy body tips

Commenting on the launch this week of the Scottish Government's revised NHS Efficiency and Productivity Framework, Dr Brian Keighley, Chairman of the BMA in Scotland said:

"As doctors, we are fully aware of the financial difficulties facing the NHS and are playing our part in trying to minimise the impact on patients. There are areas in the NHS where there is a genuine need to examine ways of working and service delivery to ensure that they are delivered in the most cost-effective manner - without affecting the quality of patient care. But all too often we see indiscriminate cost cutting decisions, taken for political and financial reasons rather than because of good clinical evidence.

"Doctors should be actively involved in the decision making processes and I urge NHS managers to work with us and focus on identifying areas where they can truly eliminate waste and achieve genuine efficiency savings rather than be tempted to make arbitrary cuts and introduce poorly thought out policies.

"As clinical leaders, doctors can drive forward change and improvements to services and deliver real savings for the NHS, whilst maintaining or even improving patient outcomes."