Unscheduled care - professional to professional decision support: guidance

Introduction

The national Redesign of Urgent Care (RUC) programme was launched on the 1^st of December 2020 focusing on delivery of the right care, in the right place, at the right time. The RUC programme aims to deliver urgent care as close to home as possible and making most effective use of appropriate access to senior clinical decision makers, where it is clinically safe and appropriate to do so. This can be supported by rapid and efficient communication between clinicians working across different settings, supporting shared decision making and access to the most beneficial local care pathways for patients.

Professional to professional clinical advice supports decision making in interactions between healthcare professionals. This could apply across multiple care providers including primary and community care, ambulance service and secondary care. Advice can support the provision of self-care, immediate treatment and provide guidance for the most appropriate location and timing for further assessment and ongoing care, maximising benefits to the patient.

Whilst being immediately relevant to the RUC programme, effective professional to professional decision support can contribute to all patient care, including urgent and unscheduled care, to enrich patient care and develop professional relationships to ensure patients have a direct route to the most appropriate service for their needs.

This professional to professional best practice guidance will facilitate effective clinical communication and support shared decision making, with the aim of accessing alternatives to hospital attendance or admission where appropriate and safe to do so.

This document has been developed in partnership with key stakeholders in NHS Scotland (Appendix A) and describes the overall principles to be adopted when implementing professional to professional decision support.