Welcome to the Right Decision Service (RDS) newsletter for March 2024. Please forward this newsletter to others who may be interested. They can contact olivia.graham@nhs.scot to be added to the circulation list.
All except the infographic are also available as editable Word versions. Please contact his.decisionsupport@nhs.scot if you would like Word versions.
Search and browse improvements are progressing well and the plan is still to release these in mid-May. The first stages of work on archiving and version control are complete. User stories (requirements) are being defined for:
These have all been compiled and effort estimated. Once the redesign work is complete, these will be prioritised in line with the remaining budget. We expect this to take place around late June.
A big thank you to all of you who have completed our Impact and Value questionnaire. The data from this will be really helpful in informing the first draft of the business case for long term provision of the RDS. This will be reviewed by the National Advisory Board for RDS later this month.
We welcome further responses. If you haven’t yet completed the survey, please follow this link, and please encourage other RDS toolkit leads and users to do so.
A few examples of toolkits published to live in the last month:
Some of the toolkits the RDS team are currently working on:
Please contact his.decisionsupport@nhs.scot if you would like to learn more about a toolkit. The RDS team will put you in touch with the relevant toolkit lead.
The RDS Learning working group is progressing with developing training resources for editors, and intend to have resources to share by end of June. This includes resources for:
Just a reminder that we are offering webinars for existing and potential new editors on the following dates:
To book for one of these webinars, please complete the registration form at https://forms.office.com/e/eGjKqNVjeF
Many thanks to all of you who have met with me recently to complete or clarify your responses to the quality audit survey at the end of last year. Work to complete the quality audit for all toolkits published on RDS prior to November last year will continue for the next few months.
The RDS team is now working with Moray HSCP to evaluate impact of the new RDS toolkit “Preventing progress of diabetes” (https://preventdiabetes.scot.nhs.uk ) to support people at high risk of diabetes type 2 and those who are candidates for remission. We are looking at the impact of use of the app with SMS prompts on people’s readiness for lifestyle change over an 8 week period. This includes comparing impact in people who have a call with a dietitian in addition to using the app to people who only use the app.
If you have any questions about the content of this newsletter, please contact us on his.decisionsupport@nhs.scot.
With kind regards
Right Decision Service team
Healthcare Improvement Scotland
DGRefHelp is a resource to guide referring clinicians in Dumfries and Galloway on locally agreed referral pathways. The advice contained may not be directly relevant to other areas and is not intended for use by members of the public.
Programme Manager - Lynda Forrest - lynda.forrest@nhs.scot
Clinical Editor and Senior Responsible Officer - Fergus Donachie - fergus.donachie@nhs.scot
Secondary care interface lead - Gwyneth Jones - gwyneth.jones@nhs.scot
Chair of Realistic Medicine board - Stephen Wilson - stephen.wilson6@nhs.scot
Generic email for feedback and comments - dg.refhelp@nhs.scot
New content is checked for accessibility in line with relevant RDS standard operating procedure and tested using Wave accessibility tool
Content ported from our previous platform in pdf format may not meet web accessibility standards but will be updated before 1/1/2026.
Content in this toolkit has been authored by clinicians in Dumfries and Galloway and edited in conjunction with the authors by the clinical editor.
Content is reviewed and approved by the Realistic and Value Based Medicine Group of Dumfries and Galloway HSCP. Content is reviewed and feedback sought from GP Sub-committee, NHS D&G Interface group and Area Drugs and Therapeutic Committee as appropriate prior to approval.
Content is reviewed for update every 2 years. Automated RDS alerts are sent to authors and Programme manager and clinical editor 3 months before review due date. Minor updates are dealt with in the intervening period as needed, major updates are subject to the governance process above.
All icons are from Flaticon.com, accessed through the licence held Tactuum Ltd for the resources supported by the software platform it provides.
Many pathways are developed directly from national pathways or guidance from Centre for Sustainable Delivery, SIGN, SIGN, Scottish Cancer Guidelines and where this is the case the original source will be linked in the pathway.
Where the pathway is not a local implementation of a National pathway, any existing guidance on the topic from these national bodies will be searched to ensure it is consistent with national guidance.
The generic email for DGRefHelp is listed on every main page for feedback and comments and is directed to the programme manager and clinical editor. All feedback is reviewed and actioned as appropriate.
The toolkit has been risk assessed, and mitigations put in place where required.
The DGRefHelp team is not responsible for the content of any external links.
Functional testing, usability testing and user acceptance testing was carried out by a small group of stakeholders from the D&G GP sub-committee in December 2022 and feedback used to adapt the format for content. Every new page is reviewed for usability and relevance of content by a user group consisting of GP Sub-committee members, Interface group and Realistic Medicine leads.
NHS Dumfries & Galloway - RefHelp