Chamber and committees

I do not feel qualified to answer that question.

I am aware that you asked that question two weeks ago, and the response was that active recruitment is happening at the moment. I should point out that there are urology specialists in Scotland, and they can provide support as and when required. I am afraid that I cannot give you a timeframe, but I have been informed about the situation and it has been underlined that this is a key appointment that people are working to progress.

I agree with you that women should be able to approach their GPs regularly with whatever concerns they have and get the right support, which I know GPs can provide.

I agree that waiting times of that length must be incredibly difficult for the women who are waiting for the referral and for the discussions to find out what their best pathway is—the best course of action that they can be offered for what is a very debilitating and pretty awful situation to find themselves in.

My officials correspond and meet regularly with the health boards and NSS to ensure that everyone is across the pathways and understands the need to ensure that this is done with the patient at the centre of it, which is how we would hope to achieve any improvement in waiting lists. As Greig Chalmers indicated earlier, the whole system has been improved by listening to those who are waiting in order to improve their experiences while they are waiting. We have introduced a waiting well plan, and, in my role as women’s health minister, I am looking at how that can be connected into the women’s health plan.

If I recall correctly, the evidence that the committee received two weeks ago indicated that the pathway is clearly laid out and that there is an electronic referral to the GG&C complex mesh surgical service. That is the clear pathway that has been introduced. Greig Chalmers would like to comment on that.

My understanding is that there is a clear pathway. I saw it when I was on the NHS Inform website this morning. I have a copy of it here, and it is described as the complex mesh surgical service pathway. I would be happy to submit it to the committee after this evidence session.

First, I thank the convener and the committee for inviting me along and for recognising the quite dramatic experiences that women have had as a result of transvaginal mesh surgery.

It is clear that, when we started setting up the surgery system for women who have been impacted, we wanted to design the processes with those women in mind and ensure that we did the right thing for them. There have been lots of discussions and surveys with women who have been impacted to find out how they feel the service should operate. Taking that learning on board has been incredibly important.

There is some advice on the NHS Inform website, but creating pamphlet literature to support women is incredibly important. We have listened to the women in order to ensure that it contains the right information, whether it is about the pathways for the referral system in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde service or the independent service.

I am pleased that we have listened to the women and are able to provide them with the information that they have highlighted is needed.

I am afraid that I cannot, but Greig Chalmers might be able to.

NSS has been sending out information to health boards, each of which has an individual who has been tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that there is an understanding of the complex mesh service in their health board area.

I refer the member to my earlier answer about the responsible officers in each health board, who have direct contact with NSS and the complex mesh surgical service.

To be fair, we are learning from the women who have experienced the situation that a lot of services could be improved. That is why I know that a lot of listening has been done. I appreciate that, at the start of this process, the women did not feel as though they were being listened to. So, to support them even more, listening has been absolutely key.

If anyone has experienced surgery, they will know that the best information that they can get is as much information as can be given, and a simple letter is sometimes not enough. That is why post-surgery phone calls to women have been introduced. That is incredibly important. I have suffered some surgery, and I know that you really do not take on board what people are saying during the first 24 hours after surgery. So, we need to find ways of keeping women more informed after their surgery.

It is also important to keep their families informed, because that is where the women’s main support will be once they have left the hospital environment. Improvements can be made, and I hope that that will happen. We have talked about the accountable officers in the health boards and how sending additional information to GPs should provide the level of support that women rightly expect.