The Scottish Government has allocated £50,000 of funding for the training of patients and carers who wish to get involved in the running of Managed Clinical Networks on respiratory conditions.
Managed Clinical Networks (MCNs) provide an arena for health professionals, patients and carers to work together on shaping NHS service delivery in specific areas. At present there are MCNs for respiratory diseases operating in the Borders, ForthValley, Grampian, Lanarkshire and Tayside. The new injection of funding will allow more people the training necessary to participate in the running of these.
Minister for Public Health Shona Robinson said: “Through providing training for people who want to get involved in MCNs we will make sure that we give patients and carers a strong voice which they can use to make services even more effective. We also hope that by strengthening the effectiveness of the existing MCNs, other Boards will be encouraged to adopt the same approach.”
The British Lung Foundation will be working in partnership with Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland on this project. CHS Scotland have already been instrumental in the development of a similar training programme for MCNs on Coronary Heart Disease, and their expertise will be invaluable in the creation of an equivalent programme for COPD MCNs, which will be based on the model used in the case of heart disease.
