Chamber and committees

The Scottish Driving Assessment Service is the NHS service which covers Scotland, and all driving assessments are carried out at the SMART Centre at the Astley Ainslie Hospital in Edinburgh, which is where the service’s static assessment rigs and fleet of adapted vehicles are based. The Centre is operated by NHS Lothian on behalf of the other NHS Boards.

The Scottish Government is grateful to everyone who takes the time to volunteer to give blood.

The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) adjusted the donor health check questionnaire in April 2022 so that all donors are now asked the same questions.

It is necessary to know if a donor is pregnant to ensure the safety of donors. In addition, if a donor has received certain fertility treatments they are unable to donate for patient safety reasons. Although these questions will not be relevant for many donors – male and female - the donor health check questionnaire is the most practical and appropriate way of asking sensitive questions in a busy donor environment.

In response to some concerns raised about men being asked these questions, SNBTS will be amending the form to make clear that if the pregnancy questions are not applicable then all donors should simply tick ‘NO’. This change is likely to be implemented this summer.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15683 on 21 March 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

NHS Grampian is the only Health Board to trial technology ahead of the Deposit Return Scheme launch. In total NHS Scotland Assure has provided £1,000 to off-set the costs incurred by the Health Board for the trial.

Scottish Ministers’ powers relating to inspection of educational establishments and services are set out in the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. Inspections of educational establishments are carried out by HM Inspectors.

HM Inspectors develop and maintain a set of specific inspection and review guidance which describes how HM Inspectors work in particular sectors or areas of provision. This is published on Education Scotland’s website.

The Scottish Government do not publish NHSScotland Design Assessment Process (NDAP) reports, but they are available on request from the Health Board.

Once the Board has committed to follow the recommendations of the NDAP, the responsibility for doing so remains solely with the Board. The NDAP action plan was agreed locally in discussion with the NDAP team and Graham Construction. A tracker was developed which was worked on with these partners in a collaborative method to agree with the NDAP team when actions were closed and with NHS Grampian’s construction partners Graham Constructions, about actions that were to be developed and closed during the Stage 4 construction phase. Internal governance of this process has been led through the Baird and ANCHOR Project Board and onwards to the Board of NHS Grampian as required.

In common with all major health infrastructure projects, existing equipment will be transferred from the current sites and this will be supported by investment in new equipment. The Full Business Case identified a required capital budget for equipment of £14 million. So far, the procurement of equipment to date remains within budget and no additional funding has been requested by NHS Grampian.

The procurement of much of the required equipment will however not be completed until much closer to the operational date. The impact of inflation and in some cases availability of supply in the current market is a recognised risk across all capital projects. The Scottish Government will liaise closely with NHS Grampian to ensure that any emerging pressures on the equipment budget are managed appropriately.

The NDAP process does not use the term, or produce an ‘action plan’. The process results in essential and advisory recommendations at the end of each of each Business Case stage which must be developed by the Board. The Board will submit evidence or a commitment to address the recommendations prior to their NDAP report achieving a ‘verified’ status.

NHS Grampian received the supported NDAP report for the Full Business Case stage of the Baird and ANCHOR project on 3 July 2020. This was followed up confirming the commitment from NHS Grampian to complete and close out all required actions. A tracker was developed which included all the required actions and the work to agree and close out the actions was carried out with NDAP and Graham Construction until May 2021. The actions were confirmed as closed by the NDAP team on 18 May 2021.

The NDAP process was an iterative process undertaken over a number of months, involving the NDAP Team from NHS Scotland Assure, the NHS Grampian Project team, key stakeholders, Graham Construction and their design team. The NHS Grampian Project team worked through each of the NDAP issues with stakeholders, until a design solution that met the needs of all parties was achieved and evidenced, in line with appropriate standards and guidance. This led to a ‘supported’ NDAP Report.