Chamber and committees

The information requested is not centrally held.

No funding is being set aside centrally for the voluntary severance schemes that are being considered by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Grampian.

Boards have been advised that, when planning for service redesign or other organisational changes, they should only consider a voluntary severance scheme as a last resort and that these schemes require to be financed from within their existing budgets.

The Policy on Paternal Leave for NHS Employees is part of the Supporting Work Life Balance Partnership Information Network (PIN) Policy.

This policy recognises that fathers (including same-sex partners) and adoptive parents have a need and desire to spend time at home during a period of family extension, be that the birth or adoption of a child. Employees meeting the required qualifying criteria have a statutory entitlement to take up to two working weeks'' paternity leave within eight weeks of the birth of a child or placement of a child for adoption.

Each board has developed, or is developing, a policy on paternal leave based on the model PIN Policy, including the mechanisms for monitoring implementation. Local issues regarding the implementation and application of policies would be discussed and resolved in partnership with trades unions and professional organisations at the NHS Board Area Partnership Forum.

Numbers of people working in the NHS as at April 2011 will be published in the normal manner.

The reference to small scale was not made in relation to the overall projected staff changes in NHSScotland. The reference is in relation to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Grampian who are considering voluntary severance for a small number of their total planned reductions. The majority of the reductions will be achieved through a combination of natural turnover, vacancy management and early retirement.

Scottish Government Health Directorates officials and I hold regular meetings with chairs and senior managers of NHS boards, at which a range of issues are discussed, including workforce planning and staff management.

The self assessment audit tool (SAAT) associated with the Staff Governance Standard is one element of the monitoring process. This tool is supplemented by a staff governance action plan that is formulated in partnership with trade unions/professional organisations. These submissions are also subject to audit both from the boards independent auditors and by the Staff Governance Unit within Scottish Government.

Following analysis and verification of the SAAT return, the information provided forms the basis for the workforce element of the Annual Review process where the board''s performance against the Staff Governance Standard is examined and discussed at a meeting with members of the Area Partnership Forum.

Implementation of the Partnership Information Network (PIN) Policies is monitored via the Staff Governance Standard monitoring arrangements that take place each year, including the completion by NHS boards of the self assessment audit tool.

Local issues regarding the implementation of any policies would be discussed and resolved in partnership with the trade unions and professional organisations at the NHS board area partnership forum.

Services in Scotland are provided by five paediatric centres in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Inverness and Glasgow, with Glasgow currently developing a shared care model with the local District General Hospitals in the west of Scotland. These centres provide specialist services for all neuromuscular conditions within the paediatric age group. They are linked together in the Scottish Muscle Network, which promotes the multi-disciplinary approach to care needed by people with these complex conditions. The network also gives a strong voice to patients, carers and the voluntary sector in the development of services. Both the clinicians concerned and the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign support the network as the service model best suited to Scotland''s geography and population distribution. One of the network''s main concerns is to promote the specialist respiratory and cardiac care that are essential to improvements in survival and quality of life.

The network''s paediatric sub-group has produced information on Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy for both clinicians and families. It has also produced a leaflet for use in clinics, designed to encourage patients to engage with the Network and share their experience of services, as an important way of driving improvements. The paediatric sub-group will continue to hold family events in Glasgow and Dundee, and is piloting meetings in other parts of Scotland.

Two care advisors, one in the east and one in the west, provide practical and emotional support for people with muscular dystrophy and their families. During the current year, the funding of these posts is shared between the NHS and the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign but as from next year the posts will be funded wholly by the NHS.

The Scottish Muscle Network links to the national Managed Clinical Network for children with exceptional healthcare needs which we have funded as part of the National Delivery Plan for Children and Young People''s Specialist Services in Scotland. Complexity is defined as meaning a child has four or more severe impairments, with additional respiratory and/or enteral feeding needs. The network''s main tasks is to drive up standards of care through the development of a clear process for assessment of service provision, clinical standards and appropriate service models.

The Children''s Hospice Association Scotland also provides specialist palliative care for children with muscular dystrophy.

The Scottish Muscle Network (SMN) has been working on standards of care for the medical management of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), as well as standards for those with myotonic dystrophy. These draw on the Translational Research in Europe “ Assessment and Treatment of Neuromuscular Diseases (TREAT NMD) standards, as used in the two centres of excellence in England. I understand the network intends to discuss with NHS Quality Improvement Scotland whether it will consider endorsing the standards.

The network wants to audit performance against these standards, and met representatives from Action Duchenne to discuss this and other issues on 10 June 2010.

The network is also exploring accreditation by the British Myology Society, the relevant professional body, of the five specialist paediatric centres against the standards developed by the Society.