Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. Since 2016, it has been the responsibility of Integration Authorities to commission and plan specialist palliative and end of life care services and supports to meet the needs of their local population. Before 2016, this responsibility lay with Health Boards and Councils for health and social care services respectively.

Funding for specialist palliative and end of life care services is drawn from the overall funds allocated to Integration Authorities by the Scottish Government. As such, officials are unable to provide the information in the way Mr Briggs has requested.

The Scottish Government is working with the Chief Finance Officers and Chief Officers of Integration Authorities to improve clarity on financial reporting arrangements. A consolidated financial report is now provided on a quarterly basis to the Scottish Parliament's Health and Sport Committee and provides an overview of the finances of the Integration Authorities.

The additional funding provided to Boards since 2017 was allocated on a criteria based assessment process, that ensured that funding was directed to initiatives that specifically addressed patients waiting the longest in specialties with the longest waits. Boards have been required to meet milestones and trajectories that demonstrate they are reducing numbers of patients waiting, and these milestones are reviewed on an ongoing basis.

The effectiveness of funding will be measured against and determined on the basis of performance achieved in relation to the reduction of patients waiting and the degree to which sustainable solutions have been put in place to reduce demand capacity gaps. I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-18635 on 8 October 2018 for information on the key specialties being funded in 2018-19. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

The Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland. However, the statutory responsibility for delivering or commissioning services at a local level lies with local authorities, NHS Boards and integrated health and social care partnerships. From 2015 the Scottish Government provided additional financial support to enhance clinical nurse specialist provision and care. The report on specialist nursing and care fund published in September 2017 can be accessed here https://www.gov.scot/publications/report-specialist-nursing-care-fund/ . Operational decisions, including the care of people with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) and whether there is a need for additional MPN specialist nurses, are therefore matters for these bodies. To date, NHS Boards have not raised any concerns with me about a lack of MPN specialist nurses.

Student nurses, midwives and allied health professionals who may be exposed to the flu during placements within NHS Boards should receive the flu vaccination in line with all other NHS healthcare workers.

A joint letter is issued each year from the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer to the NHS setting out the arrangements for flu season. This highlights the importance of the flu vaccination being offered by employers for staff or other individuals who may be at risk of occupational exposure.

Vaccination policy in Scotland, as with the rest of the UK, is based on recommendations from the JCVI. The JCVI is an independent, expert group which provides advice on all aspects of vaccination to the four UK health departments.

For the 2018-19 flu season, the JCVI recommended an adjuvanted trivalent (aTIV) flu vaccine for those aged 65 years and over. They agreed that the use of this vaccine should be a priority for people aged 75 and over as the evidence shows this group are the most at risk of the complications of flu. Those aged 65 to 74 years are offered trivalent flu vaccine which still provides protection against flu.

Evidence regarding the effectiveness of the influenza vaccine in those aged 65 years and older in the United Kingdom can be found in the Eurosurveillance report using the following link:

https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2018.23.39.1800092

Through the previous £5 million recruitment and retention fund 39 new GPs were recruited. We’ve increased the GP recruitment and retention fund in 2018-19 to £7.5 million to fund a range of initiatives to encourage GPs to remain in or to return to the profession. This includes GP training bursaries to incentivise a career in general practice. These initiatives are part of a wider package of measures that will, over the next decade, increase the number of GPs working in Scotland by at least 800. We will continue to monitor progress in delivering on this commitment.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-19158 on 6 November 2018. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

a) As part of this year’s arrangements for the 2018-19 NHS seasonal flu programme anyone eligible to receive the flu vaccine can make arrangements to do so through their GP practice. As part of the childhood programme, children who are aged 2-5 (and not yet in school) will be offered vaccination at their GP practice and all primary school children will be immunised in school. Provision by community pharmacists is not part of the NHS programme and we have no information on pharmacies offering flu vaccination.

b) The adjuvanted trivalent flu vaccine is currently produced by only one company, who were unable to guarantee sufficient supply to ensure all over 65s in Scotland could be vaccinated before the start of the flu season. Therefore, in line with expert advice, the adjuvanted vaccine is being prioritised for aged 75 and above this year, and will be made available to all those aged 65 and above from next year, assuming sufficient supply can be guaranteed.

Health Protection Scotland will provide analysis of the impact of the seasonal influenza across this season and will publish this on a weekly basis. This data will contribute to the annual report of the impact made across the UK.

As part of winter planning activity, Boards routinely monitor HPS updates to help detect and respond to potential increases in influenza and other respiratory infections. Winter plans also take into account the predicted surge of flu activity that can happen between October and March and adequate resources will have been identified to deal with potential flu and other respiratory outbreaks across this period.

The number of infants up to one year of age that have been admitted to hospital with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-related bronchiolitis in each financial year since 2010-11 and the number of these with (a) bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) or chronic lung disease, (b) congenital heart disease and (c) severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome (SCID), is provided in the tables below.

Table 1: Scotland and HB of treatment: 2010-11-2017-18: Number of infants with a diagnosis of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-related bronchiolitis).