Chamber and committees

The following table sets out the number of clinical radiology training places advertised and filled per year from 2017 onwards (broken down by region) as well as the overall training establishment in each year. ‘Training establishment’ is the term given to the overall number of funded places on a training programme. Please note that the 2024 recruitment cycle is currently underway and will conclude in November.

A commitment was made in 2018 to create 10 additional clinical radiology training places per year over a five-year period. This commitment was met in full in 2022 following five years of consecutive uplifts. This saw the overall training establishment rise from 139 in 2017 (before the commitment was made) to 192 in 2022 (after the commitment had been met). The number of established clinical radiology training posts in Scotland has not decreased between 2023 and 2024 in any region. There are 192 established posts in clinical radiology spread across the five year training programme (ST1-ST5) and this has been the case since 2022 i.e. since the latest funded increase was applied. The number of posts advertised per year by NHS Education for Scotland is determined by two factors: i) the number of vacant posts, due to trainees completing training, resigning from post or undergoing an inter-deanery transfer, and ii) whether any additional posts have been created. The number of posts which are available for new applicants to apply for varies annually due to trainees working on a part-time basis (and therefore taking longer to complete training and vacate their post).

The Scottish Government remains committed to enhancing audiology services, and to its vision for an integrated, community-based audiology service. We are currently focusing on delivery of the actions required to respond to the Independent Review of Audiology services, and our approach will continue to be informed by this, alongside ongoing consultation with the audiology sector.

The Scottish Government remains committed to enhancing audiology services, and to its vision for an integrated, community-based audiology service. We are currently focusing on delivery of the actions required to respond to the Independent Review of Audiology services, and our approach will continue to be informed by this, alongside ongoing consultation with the audiology sector.

There is only one high street ophthalmologist (ophthalmic medical practitioner) listed to provide General Ophthalmic Services in Scotland.

However, community optometrists have been increasing their role to support the care of NHS patients and this is continuing. NHS Education for Scotland funded training is enabling more optometrists to become independent prescribers each year resulting in more care for patients without the need for hospital referral or general practice support. Scotland is also the first country in the UK to embed independent prescribing into the undergraduate optometry course from this autumn.

Additionally, community optometrists are also becoming accredited around Scotland to safely manage the care of patients with lower risk glaucoma, enabling the discharge of these patients to high quality care nearer to home, freeing up much needed hospital eye service capacity.

The Scottish Government has not recently undertaken an assessment of unmet need for people with hearing loss, but we are engaged with stakeholders and those with lived experience to inform our understanding of unmet need.

As part of the See Hear Strategy refresh, we have engaged with people who are hard of hearing, deaf and deafblind. This includes children, young people and their parents/ carers.

We asked what topics and issues matter to them for inclusion in the strategy, through an online survey and a series of in-person and online focus groups and interviews.

In total we have received insights from over 170 adults with lived experience and 17 parents and carers of children/young people. Additional focus group discussions were held with 17 children and young people with lived experience from all sensory impairment groups. The engagement took place between September 2023 and February 2024.

The Scottish Government increased student funded places for pre-registration nursing, including children's nursing, for ten successive years and we now have a record intake target of 4,536 to support workforce sustainability.

Whilst the Scottish Government sets strategic policy direction for the NHS in Scotland, operational matters including staffing are in the first instance the responsibility of the relevant NHS board. This will depend on the service needs of each board taking account of national, regional and local priorities, and we expect NHS boards to plan and provide safe, effective and high-quality care, in line with their statutory service provision and workforce planning responsibilities.

The Scottish Government actively supports health boards across Scotland to plan locally for service need and for service delivery.

The Scottish Government does not hold central information on NHS boards’ provision of 24/7 end of life care at home for children.

Children’s palliative care is an integral part of the new strategy on palliative care currently being developed. In addition to representatives of palliative care for children and young people on the Strategy Steering Group, we have established a Children and Young People’s Working Group to develop new actions which will contribute to meeting the needs of children and young people and their families.

The Scottish Government remains committed to enhancing audiology services, and to its vision for an integrated, community-based audiology service. We are currently focusing on delivery of the actions required to respond to the Independent Review of Audiology services, and our approach will continue to be informed by this, alongside ongoing consultation with the audiology sector.