Chamber and committees

All GP practices have secure broadband connections to Scotland Wide Area Network. The speed of their broadband connections varies. The older ADSL broadband connection is provided over home telephone lines and the newer Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology provides a fibre optic connection, much closer to the premises, to provide faster download and upload speeds

The majority of GP sites already have FTTC connections. There is a programme of work to move GP sites still using ADSL technology to FTTC technology. Since October 2016, the programme has improved the secure internet connections for 529 GP practices and branch surgeries. There are 73 GP sites that are still using ADSL connections. Out of these 73 sites, 20 are already on order with BT to be upgraded to FTTC.

It is estimated that by the end of this financial year (2018-19) only 34 sites will remain on ADSL connections. The successful completion of this project depends on the full roll-out of the Scottish Government’s “Reaching 100” project which aims to connect all of Scotland to super-fast broadband by the end of 2021.”

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.

None. The Young Carer Grant is due to come into force in Autumn 2019. Free bus travel for recipients of Young Carer Grant will be introduced thereafter.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.