To ask the Scottish Executive what additional resources were allocated for cold weather conditions following the winter of 2009-10
Winter of 2009-10 was the coldest in Scotland since 1962-63 and the second coldest since records began in 1914. However, by working together central and local government ensured that Scotland kept moving. In doing so, a number of lessons were learned which were taken into account by public service providers in preparing for this winter.
Earlier this year, the Scottish Salt Group undertook a review of the resilience of the Scottish road network, building on the experience of last winter. Its findings were published in August and included 11 short-term recommendations and further medium and long-term suggestions for improvement.
http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/strategy-and-research/publications-and-consultations/j13001-00.htm.
Following the publication of the report, action was taken by Transport Scotland to develop the short-term recommendations. Monitoring of salt restocking by road authorities commenced during the summer that resulted in confidence being high in the autumn that Scottish roads authorities would have sufficient salt supplies for the start of the high winter maintenance season. Monitoring has continued during the winter to assess usage levels. In addition to this monitoring, Transport Scotland procured an additional amount of salt to provide a strategic salt supply if stocks fell to critical levels this winter. Guidance has been provided to local authorities on the arrangements for accessing this reserve of 27,000 tonnes of salt should they require it.
Scottish Flood Forum
Government funding for the Scottish Flood Forum will increase from £70,000 to £99,000 in 2010-11, and from £36,000 to £70,000 in the first six months of 2011-12. The Scottish Flood Forum is an independent voice, representing the interests of people and communities affected or ˜at risk'' from flooding. This funding will help the Forum provide support to communities, local authorities and individuals about the proactive steps they can take to understand flood risks and to take sensible and proportionate steps to protect themselves.
Flood Warning Schemes
The Scottish Government has improved Scotland''s flood warning schemes by:
delivering an improved, more accurate flood warning service to almost 20,000 properties and businesses. Investments have been made in major improvements to flood warning across Scotland, including new schemes covering the Esk, Dee, Don, Deveron (March 2010) which have resulted in around 2000 homes and businesses within at-risk communities in North East Scotland benefitting from Scottish Environment Protection Agency''s (SEPA) flood warning service;
providing SEPA with £8.6 million to enhance their flood warning service by implementing Floodline Warnings Direct. This new state-of-the-art service will launch in March 2011 and will mean that members of the public and businesses will soon be able to sign up for free flood warnings that are sent directly via land lines or mobile phones - a vital first defence to those at risk of flooding;
investing in new flood protection schemes across Scotland, such as the Mosset Burn flood protection scheme in Forres protected around 350 homes from flooding last winter; and
providing £750,000 funding to support the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service. This joint initiative between the Met Office and SEPA will provide improved accuracy of flood forecasts and allow SEPA to issue timely warnings to the public to allow them to prepare themselves and their property from potential flooding.
SGoRR
The Scottish Government Resilience Room (SGoRR) is now working 24 hours a day to provide support and co-ordination to cope with the current spell of severe weather in order to ensure that the necessary information is in place to underpin decisions about communication and to enable Ministers to maintain a dialogue with key agencies and other governments.
Ready Winter
Ready Winter is a new section of the Ready Scotland website published on 9 November, and provides practical advice on the simple practical precautions people can take to mitigate the worst effects of winter weather while going about their daily lives. In keeping with the rest of Ready Scotland, the site provides a single point of entry for winter advice and information, linking to other official sources of information and advice including those provided by Transport Scotland, SEPA and the Met Office.
Ready Business
Ready Business is a sub-section of Ready Scotland that provides generic advice for businesses to follow in preparation for all forms of emergencies, and is particularly relevant during winter. The Scottish Government has also engaged in a number of activities to promote the uptake of business continuity measures over the past few months, including sponsorship of a major conference in Edinburgh in October and arranging discussions with the CBI and the Federation of Small Businesses.
Winter Planning for NHS Health Boards
The Scottish Government hosted a National Winter Planning Conference on
15 June, where the key findings of the 2009-10 winter review were presented and discussed.
The Scottish Government also hosted two regional winter planning events on 21 and 23 September, which gave NHS Boards, and their partners, an opportunity to illustrate how they were enhancing their 2010-11 winter planning arrangements.
The Scottish Government issued winter planning guidance, which emphasised the importance of planning from a whole systems perspective, to all NHS boards on 7 October.
Winter Planning Guidance for NHS Health Boards
The 2009-10 NHSScotland winter review confirmed that, in spite of the most severe winter weather for 30 years, H1N1 pandemic flu, and increased levels of norovirus circulating in the community, NHSScotland performed well, with performance levels for key indicators comparable with previous years, and in many areas exceeding previous year''s performance.
This year''s winter planning guidance has been developed in consultation with policy areas across the Health Directorate, and key partners, including the Emergency Access Delivery Team, NHS Territorial Boards, COSLA, Health Protection Scotland, and NHS 24.
The guidance focuses on the main areas that NHS boards identified through the 2009-10 winter review that could be further improved to help them prepare for winter 2010-11:
Reduce levels of in-patient boarding
Increase the effectiveness of escalation planning
Improve patient discharge levels over the four-day festive public holidays
Improve the management of norovirus.
The guidance re-emphasises the importance of planning from a whole systems perspective, including access to Out-of-Hours and mental health services, and in implementing the recommendations made in the 2008-09 winter review that helped boards successfully manage last year''s winter pressures.
The importance of NHS board resilience and business continuity is also highlighted in this year''s guidance.
The Scottish Government shared geographic information with NHS boards on the number of emergency admissions that were due to falls and fractures across last year''s period of severe weather, to help facilitate discussion with local authorities around local contingency planning. Boards were also advised to make sure that they had agreed priorities in place for gritting arrangements to make sure that services are not adversely affected this winter.
Improving Delayed Discharge Performance
The Scottish Government are investing £70 million in a change fund that will help local partnerships redesign their services for older people. This service redesign will see the balance of care for older people move from institutional to primary and community settings, and in particular will help to reduce the level of avoidable admissions and further drive performance on delayed discharge
Be Ready for Winter Media Campaign
NHS 24 is leading a winter media campaign and is focusing on three key messages:
Restock Medicines for winter ailments
Order and collect repeat prescriptions
When GP surgeries are closed
As well as announcements in the national, regional and local press, these messages are being communicated through radio and television campaigns. A range of promotional posters and leaflets, have also been sent to NHS territorial boards, health venues, such as GP Practices and Community Pharmacies, and Local Authority venues, such as local libraries.
The Be Ready for Winter leaflet also signposts a number of services that the public can access for advice and information, such as NHS Minor Ailments Service, Immunisation Scotland, and the Ready Scotland portal.
NHS Boards have also been advised to issue local press releases to inform both the public and NHS staff, of prevailing local conditions around issues such as severe weather, norovirus, and changes in procedures.
NHS Inform
NHS 24 has recently launched NHS Inform, which is a new health information service designed to give the public access to the health related information, such as:
General information on medical conditions.
Answers to commonly asked health questions.
Information on health and welfare topics.
www.healthinmylanguage.com “ for translated health information.
A behind the headlines feature “ looking at the health issues making the news.
Links to local information across NHSScotland.
Information on your rights.
An online enquiry service.
NHS inform is still developing and the service will be continually updated to ensure that the public are provided with the most relevant and up-to-date information currently available.
