Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has supported Neighbourhood Watch Scotland (NWS) since it was established in 2008. Over this period, the Scottish Government has provided funding of £870,877.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with Neighbourhood Watch Scotland to offer reassurance to local communities and advice on keeping safe. It has also supported NWS in the establishment of Rural Watch Scotland and the development of the Neighbourhood ALERT system, which provides real time community messaging and shares alerts on potential criminal activities.

Information on the maximum waiting times for Endoscopy appointments is not collected centrally. Information Services Division only collect aggregate data for diagnostics so are unable to determine the average or longest waiting times for endoscopy appointments.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. NHS Boards commission specialist services for palliative care in the community and pharmacists from various settings including community, hospital and managed service, may have a role in local arrangements.

The following table highlights data from Higher Education Statistics Agency HESA records, from the Scottish Funding Council, showing Scotland-domiciled people who have entered pre-registration nursing and midwifery training since 2008-2009 to 2016-17.

Land and building disposals are reported in Health Boards’ annual accounts which are publically available online on Health Boards’ websites.

All proceeds from NHS property and land disposals are reinvested in health services.

The Seventh edition of the state of NHS Scotland assets and facilities report (SAFR) was published in October 2018 and that provides an overview of the current status of NHSScotland’s medical assets and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/annual-state-nhsscotland-assets-facilities-report-2017/ .

Medical Equipment replacement within each Health Board is planned either on a rolling annual basis (e.g. endoscopy equipment) or in bursts to ensure standardisation (e.g. replace all defibrillators over a maximum of 2 years to ensure all devices are of the same model to ensure staff competence). Investment in lifecycle replacement of medical equipment can vary considerably on an annual basis and 'peaks' of investment are often observed in particular years when major, large equipment is replaced.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of effective asset management and investment planning to ensure that the health and care estate and supporting services are fit for purpose and capable of adapting to and encouraging new models of care delivery. Our forthcoming Capital Investment Strategy, which will be brought to Parliament before the end of the financial year, will take a broad overview of required investment across primary and community care facilities, acute hospital infrastructure, digital technology, and medical equipment and will set out the further steps we will take to support all boards to continue to improve and maintain their estate and asset base.

Availability is checked using the Superfast Broadband checker set-up by Digital Scotland. Speeds are checked as part of the broadband delivery process.

ALISS is online at www.aliss.org and is accessible by all GPs. The service maps community assets and connects people with sources of support in their area to enable them to manage their own health conditions effectively.

It is not currently possible to identify the number of deaths of people who had no known fixed address. The deceased’s usual address is recorded on the death certificate when the death is registered, but there are many reasons why this may not have been recorded, which would not indicate that the deceased was homeless.

In a very small number of cases “no fixed abode” or “no known address” is recorded on the death certificate, but it is felt that this would be an undercount of the true number of people who have died while homeless. A homeless shelter or hostel may be recorded as the deceased’s usual address in some cases, and a methodology needs to be developed to allow these deaths to be included in any estimates of homeless deaths.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has developed a methodology to estimate the number of deaths of homeless people and is due to publish experimental statistics for England and Wales on 20 December 2018. National Records of Scotland are working closely with colleagues in ONS to see whether this methodology can be applied in Scotland to produce similar estimates for Scotland in the new year.

The Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) for whole and part time staff in NHSScotland as at 30 September 1999 – 2018 is shown in Table 1.

The headcount for whole and part time staff in NHSScotland as at 30 September 1999-2018 is shown in Table 2.

Table 1: Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) of Overall NHSScotland staff, split by whole and part time workers as at 30 September 1999 – 2018.