Chamber and committees

As at March 2016, there were 918.9 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) staff working in Paediatrics Specialties in NHS Scotland – a 30.4 per cent increase under this government. This includes a 78.9 per cent increase in paediatric consultants.

Information on the number of WTE medical staff (all grades) working within paediatrics specialties, broken down by NHS Scotland board as at March 2016, is published by Information Services Division Scotland and included in the following table:

Scotland	918.9
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	38.3
NHS Borders	13.5
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	19.6
NHS Fife	44.1
NHS Forth Valley	38.4
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	314.6
NHS Grampian	86.9
NHS Highland	25.3
NHS Lanarkshire	60.4
NHS Lothian	198.9
NHS Orkney	-
NHS Shetland	0.3
NHS Tayside	76.9
NHS Western Isles	1.0
NHS Education for Scotland	0.6

Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System.

NOTE:

Paediatrics specialties included are: paediatrics, paediatric cardiology, paediatric surgery and paediatric dentistry.

The information is not held centrally.

The following table shows the number of people discharged with a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from hospitals in Scotland in each year between 1999 and 2014. Numbers are shown for the whole of Scotland and for individual NHS boards of treatment.

Table 1. Number of people¹ discharged² with a diagnosis of PTSD³ from Scottish hospitals⁴, by NHS board of treatment, 1999-00 to 2014-15⁵.

	1999- 00	2000- 01	2001- 02	2002- 03	2003- 04	2004- 05	2005 06	2006- 07
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	15	7	13	12	14	10	11	10
NHS Borders	*	*	0	0	*	7	*	*
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	6	*	5	*	16	5	6	7
NHS Fife	*	*	13	8	6	15	11	6
NHS Forth Valley	*	6	7	7	9	7	8	7
NHS Grampian	7	9	11	8	12	10	8	12
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	17	17	21	32	31	39	46	29
NHS Highland	9	16	11	18	12	14	11	14
NHS Lanarkshire	*	6	7	*	13	8	6	6
NHS Lothian	23	21	36	30	19	27	28	24
NHS Orkney	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
NHS Shetland	0	0	0	0	*	*	*	0
NHS Tayside	5	13	6	8	20	9	7	13
NHS Western Isles	0	*	0	0	0	*	0	*
Other (National Facility, State Hospital)	0	0	0	*	0	0	0	0
Scotland	92	104	128	128	153	149	143	131
	2007 -08	2008 09	2009- 10	2010- 11	2011- 12	2012- 13	2013- 14	2014- 15
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	18	15	9	17	22	24	25	28
NHS Borders	*	5	*	*	*	6	*	5
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	*	*	*	8	8	8	6	9
NHS Fife	10	7	17	13	18	19	21	19
NHS Forth Valley	12	18	13	12	15	23	17	14
NHS Grampian	12	9	8	9	14	16	20	19
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	44	33	55	64	59	68	55	62
NHS Highland	12	16	14	9	18	30	30	36
NHS Lanarkshire	9	7	8	12	16	16	22	27
NHS Lothian	30	26	27	36	31	33	41	74
NHS Orkney	0	0	0	0	0	*	0	0
NHS Shetland	*	*	0	*	*	*	*	*
NHS Tayside	9	10	15	19	26	23	18	33
NHS Western Isles	0	*	0	0	0	*	0	0
Other (National Facility, State Hospital)	0	*	*	*	0	0	*	*
Scotland	157	152	172	203	225	269	257	323

Denotes values which have been suppressed to prevent the disclosure of sensitive information.

1. Individuals counted once in each year and in each NHS board in which they were treated. Individuals may be counted against more than one board in a single year. The Scotland total is therefore potentially lower than the sum of the figures for the separate Boards.

2. Includes patients who were resident out with Scotland or whose residence was not known.

3. Up to six diagnoses can be recorded on a single inpatient record. Hospital stays for PTSD were identified based on the ICD10 code F43.1 having been recorded in any of these diagnostic positions.

4. Hospital inpatient activity is recorded on Scottish Morbidity Record 01 (acute hospitals) and Scottish Morbidity Record 04 (psychiatric hospitals).

5. Financial year (e.g. 1 April 1999 – 31 March 2000) based on date of discharge.

Source: ISD Scotland

In October 2015, Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland published analysis of individuals on methadone based on those prescriptions with a valid Community Health Index (CHI) number. This analysis was published on the ScotPHO website, and can be accessed here, with the caveat that due to sub-optimal CHI capture rates, the estimates should be regarded as a minimum count of individuals on methadone hydrochloride in Scotland. The results of this analysis were:

In 2014-15, methadone 1mg/ml solution was prescribed at least once to 25,170 individuals (based on prescriptions with a valid CHI).

The number of individuals prescribed methadone 1mg/ml solution appears to have reduced from 26,202 individuals in 2011-12.

In 2014-15, 117,578 (or 27%) of prescriptions did not have a valid CHI number. It is not possible to determine how many additional individuals prescribed methadone 1mg/ml solution would have been identified had these data been complete.

Every suicide is a tragedy that has a far reaching impact on family, friends and the community long after a person has died.

The Scottish Government expects NHS boards to provide care to the highest standards of quality and safety whatever the setting, with the person at the centre of all decisions.

Suicides are thoroughly investigated in Scotland. The Scottish Government works closely with its partners, including Healthcare Improvement Scotland, to support the NHS in learning from any deaths by suicide and so inform continuing improvements in patient safety.

Every suicide is a tragedy that has a far reaching impact on family, friends and the community long after a person has died. One of the key themes in the Scottish Government’s Suicide Prevention Strategy (2013 to 2016) is to improve the NHS response to suicide. A range of actions is underway to support this, including work by Healthcare Improvement Scotland to support the NHS in learning from any deaths by suicide and so inform continuing improvements in patient safety, and work on improved use of data and training in accident and emergency departments.

The Scottish Government awaits details on how the proposed levy will operate in practice. The Barnett formula does not adjust to changes in reserved taxation such as the soft drinks industry levy but instead allocates to Scotland a population share of net changes in expenditure on comparable spending programmes in England (or England and Wales). Following the announcements at the UK Spending Review and the UK Budget in March 2016, the Scottish Government’s discretionary budget will fall in real terms by 3.2% over the course of the current spending review period. The Scottish Government will publish spending plans for 2017-18 in due course.

Audiology Services is included in the Scottish Government’s target that no patient should wait more than 18 weeks from a GP referral to start of treatment since the end of 2011.

Information on the average waiting time to receive a hearing aid is not collected centrally. However we have provided information on the median wait for the fitting of a hearing in each quarter from March 2010 (first published data) to March 2016 (latest available published data) by NHS board in the following table.

Median waiting time (weeks) for the fitting of hearing aids by board

NHS Board	Mar 2010	Mar 2011	Mar 2012	Mar 2013	Mar 2014	Mar 2015	Mar 2016
Ayrshire and Arran	-	0	6	6	4	6	8
Borders	6	5	5	5	5	7	10
Dumfries and Galloway	11	0	5	6	6	6	7
Fife	-	0	-	0	-	0	0
Forth Valley	-	0	5	2	6	5	4
Grampian	5	5	4	4	3	3	2
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	6	7	7	7	7	7	9
Highland	-	4	3	4	3	6	5
Lanarkshire	4	3	2	4	3	4	4
Lothian	0	16	7	7	8	7	7
Orkney	2	3	3	3	3	3	0
Shetland	4	7	6	4	3	2	3
Tayside	-	5	4	5	5	4	6
Western Isles	-	21	5	4	2	6	6

Source: Information Services Division Scotland

a - denotes no patients were seen that month.

b 0 denotes that the 50% of patients were seen in less than seven days.

The specific information requested is not available centrally.

The Scottish Government will increase the NHS revenue budget by £500 million more than inflation by the end of this parliament. Details of the annual increases will follow in due course.

The Scottish Government fully supports the safe use of pet therapy in appropriate circumstances. It is for individual NHS boards to decide what therapies they make available based on the needs of their resident populations. We expect NHS boards to ensure that people receive the appropriate care that meets the totality of their needs and that this care is person-centred, safe and effective.