Chamber and committees

Distribution of school nurses will be determined based on Health Board need established following analysis of the scoping exercise with Boards and in consultation with Scotland’s Executive Nurse Directors.

It is for Health Boards and Education Leads to determine the geographic locations of staff given the demands in their local areas.

The Scottish Government has undertaken a scoping exercise with Boards to determine Board’s current position and establish how many students could be available to begin the school nursing programme in the academic year 2019-20.

Health Protection Scotland has received no Hospital Infection Incident Assessment Tool (HIIAT) submissions or reports of Healthcare Associated Infection connected to food products from any NHS Scotland board from 2014 to date. On ObSurv, the surveillance system used for general outbreaks of Infectious Intestinal disease, there have been no hospital-related foodborne outbreaks recorded in the past five years (2014-2018), nor to date in 2019.

Since the publication of the Eligbility Criteria and Waiting Times paper in 2010, the Scottish Government has worked closely with Local Authorities to improve the quality of the data collection and understand variations within their returns. Data continued to be submitted to the Scottish Government on a quarterly basis until 2014. As analysis showed there was little variation in waiting times between quarters, a decision was made to move to an annual collection to help reduce the burden of supplying data on Local Authorities. From 2018, the collection was expanded to include people aged under 65.

The Scottish Government continues to collect and publish data on eligibility criteria and waiting times on an annual basis; https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Health/Data/QuarterlySurvey.

The Scottish Government is continuing to work closely with Local Authorities to improve the quality and consistency of data to show the eligibility and waiting times to assess and provide social care. A national programme to support local reform of adult social care support is being developed from the expertise and experiences of people who use and work in social care support. Although the co-production is still underway to form the programme’s scope and activity, one of the emerging priorities we have identified is to review the data we collect on social care support and how it is used.

The Scottish Government conducts an annual survey of Local Authorities covering data from the first quarter of every year, the period of January to March. Prior to 2014 data was collected for every quarter, however, a decision was made to move to an annual collection to help reduce the burden on Local Authorities. Analysis of the data suggested there was not enough variation between quarters for this to have a significant impact.

This survey gathers data on the time taken from when a person first contacts the local authority enquiring about a social care assessment, to the completion of the social care assessment. Further data is collected on the time taken from the social care assessment being completed, to the service being implemented and we also record the eligibility category, during this collection.

This data was previously gathered for people aged 65 and over however, from 2018 the survey was expanded to include people aged 18-64. Data from 2012 to 2018 are published on the Scottish Government website.

https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Health/Data/QuarterlySurvey .

The Scottish Government welcomes publication of the RCPG report “From the Frontline”, notes the issues raised, will consider them in detail and will discuss with Dr Carey Lunan when we next meet.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. In line with The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (Regulation 5), which requires listed public authorities to assess the impact of their policies or practices against the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, and to publish the results, Equality Impact Assessments (EQIAs) are routinely produced across the range of the Scottish Government’s activities and can be found on relevant Scottish Government web pages.

The Scottish Government is clear that everyone should feel safe whilst receiving treatment or working in our mental health services. We are investing significantly into mental health and expect services to be delivered to the highest standard.

The Scottish Government is providing Health Improvement Scotland (HIS) with additional support for oversight of mental health services in Tayside to ensure they are delivered safely and effectively. Health Improvement Scotland will continue to work with NHS Tayside on their improvement programme, including the timescale to ensure improvement is effective and sustainable.

I have set out my clear expectations that this should begin without delay when I met with the NHS Tayside Board on 21 May 2019. The Scottish Government has agreed to augment the local team at NHS Tayside to accelerate and support the pace of change. We will work closely with HIS and NHS Tayside to ensure the appropriate people are in place as quickly as possible.

The final report from the Independent Inquiry will provide a number of recommendations which will be used to shape how mental health services are delivered across Scotland. This Inquiry is independent and therefore the Scottish Government has no influence over the timescale in which the final report will be published.

The diagnosis and treatment for those affected by SCAD is provided by the relevant health boards in Scotland. The Scottish Government expects all those affected by acute coronary syndrome, which includes myocardial infarction or heart attacks to be provided with the care they need in line with the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guidelines.

Our plans to improve rehabilitation are set out in our heart disease improvement plans. We are working in partnership with national health service boards, the voluntary sector and a range of providers across health and social care, to ensure that people who have heart disease get access to the care and support that they need to help them to return to independent living.

This data is not held centrally.