Chamber and committees

NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) centrally record the total number of grievances that have been lodged by employees. NSS do not currently break these figures down further into the various categories, such as harassment and bullying. The figures provided below are the total number of grievance cases lodged per financial year since 2007-08.

2007-08: 12

2008-09: 38

2009-10: 17

2010-11: not reported as yet for the current financial year

NHS Circular CEL 38 (2008) confirmed that charges for car parking at NHSScotland operated car parks were abolished with effect from 31 December 2008.

This is a matter for NHS boards to review as part of their travel planning process.

NHS boards are required to follow Health Facilities Scotland guidance document SHTM 07-03: Transport management and car parking which advises NHS boards that an effective travel plan will address the following:

employee transport to and from work;

employee transport during work time;

patient and visitor travel and access to sites;

public transport availability;

use and type of fleet vehicles;

deliveries and contractors;

peripatetic/community visits;

travel and subsistence rates and rewarding small-engine cars or cycle mileage;

the needs of disabled people with a physical, mental and/or visual impairment, and

the needs of patients, employees, visitors and may even address the needs of visitors accompanied by young children.

The Scottish Government is committed to a service that works in serving the best interests of NHS patients. The first step of this government was to reverse the decision to close accident and emergency departments in Ayr and Monklands Hospitals. Since then, the Scottish Government has invested in protecting children''s cancer units in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, neurosurgery centres and services in the Vale of Leven and Inverclyde. All of these decisions have been taken in line with our presumption against centralisation.

Information for May 2007 is not available. Information is collected as at 30 September each year. National statistics show that the number of school nurses has increased substantially since 30 September 2007, from 385 then to 456 as at 30 September 2010. This is an increase of 71 headcount (18.4%). The whole time equivalent increase is 52.7 wte (19.5%). However, the role of the school nurse should not be seen in isolation as school children are treated by a multi-disciplinary team within the school setting for example public health nurses and these are reported separately.

Between 2007 and 2010, the number of physiotherapists in NHSScotland has increased by 4.3% and the number of allied health professions (AHPs) has increased by 7.2% over the same period.

The Scottish Government has supported a range of recruitment and retention measures. The Workload Measurement and Workforce Planning Programme which examined the existing AHP workforce to ensure it was being used to its full potential and set in place methods, tools and intelligence to develop workforce methodology and practice. These have been rolled out to NHS boards. A number of other recruitment and retention measures for AHPs have also been taken forward focussing on developing appropriate skill mix, succession planning, leadership development and continuous professional development.

Implementation of the Framework for Adult Rehabilitation, which is being taken forward by all NHS boards in Scotland, highlights the important role AHPs play in the rehabilitation of older people, people with long term conditions and those needing support to return to work after illness or injury. This framework, together with the increase in the number of AHPs, has delivered significant improvements for service users and their families or carers. The framework may also lead to the need for additional AHPs and their support staff in the future.

The Scottish Government continues to work with NHSScotland to provide a high quality of care which is quick and safe. For example, in 2009 two new £100 million hospitals were opened at Stobhill and at the Victoria in Glasgow which have redesigned their services around the needs of the patient to enhance the quality of healthcare and speed up diagnosis and treatment.

We now also have over 650 one-stop clinics operated by NHSScotland which provide a full diagnostic and, where appropriate, treatment service at one visit. Patients referred to a one-stop clinic will typically receive a specialist consultation, undergo the appropriate diagnostic tests, receive results and undergo treatment where appropriate. Where immediate treatment is not feasible the patient should be offered the date for treatment at the clinic.

As part of the Scottish Government''s commitment to reduce waiting times, the Health Delivery Directorate''s Improvement Support Team continues to work with all NHS boards to redesign and transform services across Scotland to improve access through all stages of the patient pathway. This work aims to help all NHS boards to deliver the 18 weeks referral to treatment time target that is due to be delivered by end December 2011.

The latest published figures for 30 September 2010 showed that patients are effectively receiving an outpatient consultation within 12 weeks, key diagnostic tests within four weeks and inpatient and day case treatment within nine weeks. This clearly shows that patients across Scotland are now experiencing shorter waits for outpatient consultations, tests and treatment.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-36596 on 11 October 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Following the publication of the report Delivering for Remote and Rural Healthcare in May 2008, the Scottish Government established the Remote and Rural Implementation Group (RRIG) to take forward the commitments and forward issues identified; including those around the way that rural general hospitals should deliver their care. RRIG has now completed its two year work programme and published its final report in October 2010. A copy of the report has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 52396.). Pages 10 and 11 of that report sets out the model of rural general hospitals which is being followed by NHS Highland, NHS Orkney, NHS Shetland and NHS Western Isles; and a revised model which features as one of the key recommendations for going forward.

We have accepted all the RRIG recommendations and will be writing to NHS boards shortly to confirm that our expectation is that boards will implement all the RRIG recommendations and collaborate on them through established governance mechanisms. Performance will be monitored regularly and progress will be discussed with Boards at the annual reviews.

The following table provides details of progress against this action.

NHS Board Area	Details of Local Service
NHS Highland	Inverness local centre launched in 2005 and co-located with local out-of-hours services and the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) Emergency Medical Dispatch Centre (EMDC).
NHS Grampian	Service delivered from within Aberdeen Regional Centre.
NHS Tayside	Dundee local centre launched in 2005 and co-located with local out-of-hours services.
NHS Lanarkshire	East Kilbride local centre launched in 2005 and co-located with local out-of-hours services.
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	Kilmarnock local centre launched in 2005 and co-located with local out-of-hours services.
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	Dumfries local centre launched in 2005 and located within Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary.
NHS Fife	Scottish Emergency Dental Service (SEDS) launched in 2007 based in Glenrothes. Glenrothes local centre launched in October 2009, co-located with SEDS.
NHS Lothian	Dedicated NHS 24 nursing resource located in South Queensferry Regional Centre to respond to Lothian based callers, launched in May 2006. The SAS EMDC has been co-located at the centre since 2010.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	Glasgow local centre launched in June 2008, co-located with Glasgow Out-of Hours Service and Scottish Ambulance Service EMDC in Cardonald.
NHS Borders	Melrose local centre launched in May 2009 and located within Borders General Hospital.
NHS Forth Valley	Falkirk local centre launched in December 2008 and co-located with local out-of-hours services.
NHS Orkney	Local centre was successfully launched in June 2010 within Balfour Hospital.
NHS Shetland	Working with NHS Shetland and planning to launch a local service in Spring 2011.
NHS Western Isles	Working with NHS Western Isles and planning to launch a local service in Summer 2011.

The aim of developing local service is to build NHS 24 capacity, aid the recruitment of specialist nurses and improve the performance of the NHS 24 service. These centres support the development of close relationships with the host territorial health boards and aim to improve patient satisfaction levels through better local service delivery. They afford the opportunity for flexible working and improved work life balance for the nursing workforce within these localities.

NHS 24 has also worked closely with the Scottish Ambulance Service in recent years and is now co-located on three sites with their emergency medical dispatch centres at Inverness, South Queensferry and Cardonald.

NHS 24 will complete the programme of local development this year with the establishment of services with NHS Shetland and NHS Western Isles.