New Petitions

PE1109, by Janice Johnson, on behalf of Psoriasis Scotland-PSALV, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government urgently to develop clinical guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis; to develop national standards of care for people with such problems; and to define psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis as chronic conditions to be included on the list of conditions that are exempt from prescription charges. We have the background papers and the petition details in front of us. Do members have any suggestions about how we should deal with the petition?

Okay. We will seek specialist views in terms of clinical and academic research.

The petition deals with issues that were raised in previous petitions, in that, depending on where someone lives, their treatment and diagnosis can vary hugely. I wonder whether we need to write to the Scottish Government about that again, to see how we can develop standards. Perhaps NHS Quality Improvement Scotland has something to do with it. Not every health board uses the same standards and people are treated differently depending on their health board area.

Okay. On behalf of the committee, I thank Janice Johnson for her commitment to the issue. I hope that we can make some progress. We recognise the work that she is doing. A door has been opened on the issue of chronic conditions through the review of prescription charges. Although some complexities—to use a euphemism—still exist, let us see whether we can explore the issues and pursue some positive developments.Are we agreed to write to the organisations that we have mentioned, seeking further information?Members indicated agreement.