SIGN Guidelines - FOI Response Register

1. Can you please confirm when your health board first adopted a process of using NHS Education for Healthcare Scotland as a resource?

2002

2. Can you please confirm when your health board first started to use Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guidelines?

1993

3. Can you please advise how many complaints your health board have accepted (in terms of investigating them) under the term of 'exceptional circumstances' in relation to timescales under the NHS Complaints Handling Procedure?

In accordance with FOISA s 17(1), NHS Shetland confirms that it does not hold the information requested.

4. Can you please provide a definition of 'exceptional circumstances' as referenced in the NHS Scotland Complaints Handling Procedure?

Given it is a model Complaint Handling Procedure prepared on behalf of all NHS Scotland Boards, this question may be better directed to The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman or Scottish Government as the document authors.

There are three instances of ‘exceptional circumstances’ contained in the NHS Scotland Complaints Handling Procedure:

• 1. Where someone doesn’t feel able to approach a primary care service provider directly;
• 2. Where an extension to a five day deadline needs to be agreed; and
• 3. Where a complaint may need to be referred to the Complaints Manager rather than the Complaints Officer.

Numbers 2 and 3 are hopefully self-explanatory, however, to provide a local example of application for number 1, where we have single handed independent GP practices, and a patient wishes to complain about the GP, we would, as a Board, offer to handle the complaint in the interests of acting as a honest broker and reaching a successful outcome.