Realistic Medicine: Survey Highlights

Key Findings

This report presents the key findings from this survey. Each section is followed by the Chief Medical Officer’s reflections on what they tell us and what we should do to address them.

Realistic Medicine is having a positive influence on the way we practise.

75% of respondents were confident that they understand the principles of Realistic Medicine.

70% of respondents told us that Realistic Medicine has positively influenced their practice in the past year. However, some disparity was evident by profession. Resident Doctors (89%) were most likely to report a positive influence from Realistic Medicine on their practice in the previous year.

58% of respondents also agree that Realistic Medicine has positively influenced the practice of healthcare in Scotland over the last year – Around two in five (38%) felt that the greatest positive influence of Realistic Medicine in the last year was the involvement of people in decisions about their care. Around one in five (18%) felt that it had a positive influence on attitudes held by themselves or other healthcare professions regarding the value of certain treatments and care.

However, 42%% of respondents said that Realistic Medicine has had no positive influence on the practice of healthcare in Scotland over the last year.

Reflections

It is extremely encouraging that a significant number of you feel confident in understanding the principles of Realistic Medicine and recognise the positive influence it has on your practice. The majority of you also recognise the positive influence that Realistic Medicine has had on healthcare in Scotland over the last year. This is significant given the challenges our system continues to face. Realistic Medicine is clearly making a positive impact on the way we deliver care.

The number of you (42%) who believe that Realistic Medicine has had no positive influence, makes it clear that there is more to do to support you to practise Realistic Medicine. Many of you who took part in this survey provided your views on why Realistic Medicine is yet to have a meaningful impact. You cited wider system pressures and a focus on targets, variability in adoption of Realistic Medicine and a lack of connection between different parts of our system and our services. You also cited a lack of awareness among some professionals, a lack of time to practise Realistic Medicine and concerns about public expectations and litigation fears. We must continue to work together to find ways to address these concerns.