Self-management of Anticoagulation Therapy

That the Parliament considers that there is a lack of progress in patient self-testing and self-monitoring in Scotland compared with England and the rest of Europe; understands that, while Yorkhill Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow provides an excellent service for children and young people on anticoagulants in terms of providing them with the equipment and the training to self-test and self-manage their conditions, when transitioning to adult care these patients are unable to continue to self-manage, leading to only 40 of 16,000 adult patients in the Greater Glasgow area, or ¼ of a percent of the total, being able to self-manage; understands that this is a common occurrence across Scotland; considers that, despite evidence that self-management of anticoagulation therapy provides patients with better health outcomes while remaining cost effective, there is still a general reticence across Scotland to help patients who want to self-manage to take control of their own care; notes what it considers the lack of implementation of the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) 129 guidance promoting self-management and that this inactivity runs contrary to the NHS 2020 vision of “A focus on prevention, anticipation and supported self-management ... with the person at the centre of all decisions”, and notes calls for the Scottish Government to implement a national service delivery model to ensure that NHS boards support those patients across Scotland, including the north east, who want to self-manage their condition with the training and skills to do so.