A council candidate has written to the Chair of NHS Fife asking why the region has the lowest number of accepted referrals to Pain Clinics in Scotland and expressing his concern this might be due to lack of resources for those suffering Chronic Pain.
Graeme Downie, Scottish Labour candidate for West Fife and Coastal Villages, said the figures, published today, show only 40% of those referred to a Pain Clinic in NHS Fife are accepted. Mr. Downie has questioned why acceptances are so low and has written to Tricia Marwick asking for more information on the reasons behind the figures.
The figures that of 352 patients in Fife referred to a Pain Clinic, only 144 (40.9%) were accepted, compared to a Scottish average of 81.5%, making it the lowest in Scotland. These figures are in-line with figures for NHS Fife in previous quarters.
Commenting on the figures, Graeme Downie, Scottish Labour candidate for West Fife & Coastal Villages, said:
“It is worrying Fife has the lowest acceptance rate of referrals to Pain Clinics in Scotland and I have written to the Chair of NHS Fife to ask why this might be the case.”
“Those living with Chronic Pain deserve to been seen by a specialist as quickly as possible but these figures indicate there is a problem with the service being provided by NHS Fife.”
“I am concerned this is either because of limited resources available to help those with Chronic Pain or because GPs in Fife do not have adequate training to make a correct referral so hope NHS Fife can clarify as soon as possible.”