Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government continues to invest in the registered nurse role across community, social care and primary care settings. We have introduced in partnership with NHS Education for Scotland a funded scheme to enable former nurses and midwives to complete a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) approved Return to Practice (RtP) programme and to re-enter the professional register across all fields of practice.

We have also invested over £45m since 2021 to train and introduce into the workforce an additional 375 nurses within the district nursing service. This investment supports the shift in balance of care into community settings by delivering more care in homes and reducing rates of admission to the acute hospital service.

The Scottish Government launched a national marketing campaign in November 2021 to attract more people with the right skills and values to the social care sector including nurses for social care settings. This campaign concluded in February 2022. In addition, the Scottish Government is working with the Department for Work and Pensions to host a series of sector-specific job fairs across Scotland during April and May to support recruitment efforts to all role types, including nurses, within the sector.

We have been working with NHS Boards to increase the use of international recruitment to alleviate pressures and fill key roles by supporting a number of measures. We have already provided £1m across NHS Scotland to build capacity within recruitment teams and a further £1m to fund International Recruitment Lead Posts. We are also recruiting at least 200 registered nurses from overseas with funding of £4.5m available to Health Boards to take forward this recruitment.

Article 26 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ( Article 26 – Habilitation and rehabilitation | United Nations Enable ) sets out several obligations relating to habilitation and rehabilitation.

These obligations have the stated aim of enabling “persons with disabilities to attain and maintain maximum independence, full physical, mental, social and vocational ability, and full inclusion and participation in all aspects of life”, through timely access to “multidisciplinary assessment of individual needs and strengths” to “support participation and inclusion in the community and all aspects of society.”

The Scottish Government are committed to ensuring that people who have had a stroke receive the best possible care as quickly as possible. We know that early assessment of rehabilitation need following an acute stroke, and the delivery of rehabilitation by a multi-disciplinary team, are important elements of improving outcomes and these are priorities within the Scottish Stroke Improvement Plan (2014).

Through the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme (SSIP), NHS boards are required to demonstrate their provision of access to acute therapy assessment, access to inpatient stroke therapy, access to community stroke therapy and the availability, by days per week, of community therapy input.

Article 26 also requires the provision of appropriate training for professionals working within habilitation and rehabilitation, as well as the “availability, knowledge and use of assistive devices and technologies, designed for persons with disabilities”.

Through SSIP reviews, NHS boards are also required to demonstrate that health and social care staff in hospital and community settings are trained to a level appropriate for their involvement in stroke care. Where appropriate, highly-trained specialist staff involved in the rehabilitation process are best placed to advise on the provision of assistive devices and technology that may be of benefit to people affected by stroke.

The Scottish Government does not hold this level of information, however, I can assure you that the Glasgow airport welcome desk is staffed to coincide with individuals from Ukraine arriving who may require assistance. Outwith daytime hours, signage providing telephone numbers is set up at both the domestic and international arrivals area. A welcome hub has also been established at Glasgow Airport, where displaced people will be fully supported, including an immediate needs assessment. The Welcome Hubs are multi-agency and local authority led. In addition to this, our national contact centre reaches out to people we know have received their visa before they travel to Scotland. Through this we are able to offer travel advice and obtain planned arrival information, including where and when someone is planning to arrive in Scotland.

Due to the variable management required, much of the treatment required by Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients is specialist and tailored to the needs of the individual patient. The Scottish Government therefore expects NHS Boards to treat CF patients according to individual need, this includes ensuring clinical psychologist and social work input when required.

Whilst the Scottish Government set out the wider policy within which NHS Scotland is expected to deliver services, we expect all NHS Boards to provide high quality care that is safe, effective and person-centred. This is a matter for NHS Boards locally. The information requested is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government is committed to working to improve outcomes for people with rare conditions, including Cystic Fibrosis. We are developing an Scottish Action Plan for Rare Disease based on the four priorities of the UK Rare Disease Framework: faster diagnoses, increased awareness, better care co-ordination, and access to specialist treatments and care.

The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme Lead, who conducts the annual review process, meets with NHS boards on behalf of Scottish Government. This engagement allows us to understand the provision of stroke services, including training and staff capacity across NHS boards, and where challenges or opportunities for sharing good practice exist.

Scottish Government representatives also sit on the National Advisory Committee for Stroke (NACS), where specialists from NHS boards across Scotland provide expert advice and recommendations relating to Scottish Government policy for the provision of stroke care. NACS has recently developed the Progressive Stroke Pathway ( Strokes: progressive stroke pathway - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ), which was published on 22 March 2022. This document sets out an ambitious vision of what a progressive stroke service in Scotland should look like.

The rehabilitation sub-group of NACS, which is made up of specialists across a range of disciplines from various NHS boards in Scotland, played an important role in helping to shape the Progressive Stroke Pathway recommendations relating to stroke rehabilitation services. On the back of this input, the Progressive Stroke Pathway makes a number of recommendations relating to the provision of stroke care, and the contributions of appropriate training and staff capacity in helping deliver this.

We will continue to engage regularly with these specialists from across Scottish NHS boards as we move into the implementation phase, considering the recommendations made in the Progressive Stroke Pathway.

The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme Lead, who conducts the annual review process, meets with NHS boards on behalf of Scottish Government. This engagement allows us to understand the provision of stroke services, including training and staff capacity across NHS boards, and where challenges or opportunities for sharing good practice exist.

Scottish Government representatives also sit on the National Advisory Committee for Stroke (NACS), where specialists from NHS boards across Scotland provide expert advice and recommendations relating to Scottish Government policy for the provision of stroke care. NACS has recently developed the Progressive Stroke Pathway ( Strokes: progressive stroke pathway - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ), which was published on 22 March 2022. This document sets out an ambitious vision of what a progressive stroke service in Scotland should look like.

The rehabilitation sub-group of NACS, which is made up of specialists across a range of disciplines from various NHS boards in Scotland, played an important role in helping to shape the Progressive Stroke Pathway recommendations relating to stroke rehabilitation services. On the back of this input, the Progressive Stroke Pathway makes a number of recommendations relating to the provision of stroke care, and the contributions of appropriate training and staff capacity in helping deliver this.

We will continue to engage regularly with these specialists from across Scottish NHS boards as we move into the implementation phase, considering the recommendations made in the Progressive Stroke Pathway.

Both adult and paediatric patients with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) can access a range of appropriate services via their local NHS Boards, Integrated Joint Board and specialist centres.

The National Services Division (NSD) of NHS National Services Scotland commission a number of highly specialist services for young people and adults with CF are delivered via multi-disciplinary teams, including clinical psychologists at 3 specialist centres around the country – in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh. There are also outreach services in Dundee and Inverness. Paediatric CF services are delivered locally by NHS Boards like through the South-East Scotland Paediatric Cystic Fibrosis Service.

Due to the variable management required, much of the treatment required by CF patients is specialist and tailored to the needs of the individual patient. The Scottish Government therefore expects NHS Boards to treat CF patients according to individual need, this includes ensuring clinical psychologist and social work input when required.

The Scottish Government is committed to working to improve outcomes for people with rare conditions, including Cystic Fibrosis. We are developing an Scottish Action Plan for Rare Disease based on the four priorities of the UK Rare Disease Framework: faster diagnoses, increased awareness, better care co-ordination, and access to specialist treatments and care.

The resignation notice periods for civil servants in Scottish Government Core Directorates is as follows:

• Senior Civil Servants - 3 months, as set by the Civil Service Management Code
• Special Advisers - 5 weeks, as set by contract and stipulated by Cabinet Office
• Scottish Government delegated grades:
• Band C - 3 months
• All other staff - 1 month

The notice periods for delegated grades have been in place for many years, and pre-date the delegation of terms and conditions of employment to civil service employers.

Within Scottish Government Core Directorates no civil servants have a contractual notice period that is excess of 3 months following their resignation from employment and therefore no liability exists in that regard. The Civil Service Management Code, published by the UK Government, sets out the notice arrangements that we must give our employees in relation to the termination of their employment.

Since announcing my response to the Moray Maternity Services Review I have written to both NHS Highland and NHS Grampian outlining my expectation of planning towards the networked Raigmore option (Model 4 in the report) and the full Consultant-led Maternity Unit at Dr Gray’s to begin immediately. I indicated in my statement my expectation that planning for Model 4 will conclude by the Summer and Model 6 soon after and I expect this to be no later than the end of this year. I will meet with NHS Grampian soon to discuss their implementation plans including timescales. I indicated on 30 March that I would be happy to keep the Scottish Parliament updated when I have more detail on milestones and timescales.