Chamber and committees

Under the Scottish Government the number of Medical and Dental Consultants in NHS Dumfries and Galloway has increased by 18.5% from 89.0 to 105.5 WTE.

NHS Dumfries and Galloway are being supported in their efforts to market the NHS Board as an employer of choice for medical and dental staff through an active social media campaign and targeted recruitment. They are also actively encouraging any medical locums to take up substantive posts within NHS Dumfries and Galloway and this has resulted in appointments to previously hard to fill posts in Radiology and Haematology.

In order to reduce the reliance on temporary agency staff, the Scottish Government and NHS National Services Scotland have launched a nationally coordinated programme for the effective management of all temporary staffing. The team are working to establish Regional and National Staff Banks to allow boards access to a high quality, flexible, workforce of appropriately qualified, experienced and competent staff when required, who work on NHS contracts and provide better value for money than alternative methods of filling the gaps.

NHS Dumfries and Galloway presented a draft Financial Plan for 2017-18 at their Board meeting on 5^th December 2016. This included £19 million of efficiency savings as part of an overall plan to deliver financial balance.

These savings are not about a reduction in spending, as all savings are retained locally for reinvestment in frontline services. Following the Draft Budget announced in Parliament on 15^th December 2016, NHS Dumfries and Galloway has an indicative allocation of £284.9m for 2017-18, an increase of £5.5m which includes a £4.2m (1.5%) increase to baseline funding.

Boards are rightly required to continually assess their expenditure of public funds to ensure the delivery of best value and make the most effective use of funding for the benefit of patients. The combination of increases in funding and retention of savings will ensure that priorities are safeguarded.

The Scottish Government has invested over £65 million in major trunk road improvements in Dumfries & Galloway since 2007, of which 10.6 miles are newly constructed road and 2.0 miles have been significantly improved or widened. A breakdown by year is provided in the following table.

The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 ends the exclusion of shootings and deer forests from valuation rolls as of 1 April 2017. Rating valuation is for assessors appointed by local authorities or valuation joint boards, with associated processes and timetables in line with the relevant legislation.

Through the Scotland's Schools for the Future Programme, the Scottish Government has awarded Dumfries and Galloway Council with funding of £24.5 million towards three school projects.

Through the Scotland's Schools for the Future Programme, Dumfries and Galloway Council have been awarded with funding towards three school projects. The schools to be redeveloped are: Dalbeattie High School, Maxwelltown High School and St Joseph's College.

There is no instability in the exports of red meat, however Quality meat Scotland are still carrying out promotional activities in Benelux, the Nordics and Germany.

We continue to work on emerging markets out with the EU, including USA and China, where we are at the forefront among EU countries in terms of beef negotiations. Quality Meat Scotland are also supporting the Scottish red meat industry in diversifying their export portfolio outside the EU.

The Scottish Government is committed to preventing and eradicating prejudice and discrimination, doing so through direct community engagement which is focussed on prevention, education and changing attitudes. Coupled with a strong Justice response to supporting victims, this provides a robust basis for tackling sectarianism and hate crime more broadly.

The Offences (Aggravation by Prejudice) (Scotland) Act 2009 strengthened the law around hate crime, while The Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 is helping to tackle abusive and offensive behaviour, sending a clear message that such behaviour has no place in our society.

Our approach is supported by a significant financial investment, with over
£195 million invested to promote equality and tackle discrimination since 2007 and an additional £12.5 million invested since 2012 specifically supporting work to tackle sectarianism, more than any administration before us. This funding continues to deliver community-based work and support work through a range of key organisations including BEMIS; CEMVO; Equality Network; Inclusion Scotland; Interfaith Scotland; LGBT Youth Scotland; Scottish Refugee Council; Scottish Transgender Alliance; Stonewall Scotland; Sense Over Sectarianism; and Nil by Mouth.

We have commissioned an independent review of the implementation of the recommendations of the Advisory Group on Tackling Sectarianism in Scotland. We have accepted the recommendations of the Independent Advisory Group on Hate Crime, Prejudice and Community Cohesion and will use these to build an inclusive and far-reaching programme of work in this area.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving Scotland’s school estate. However, the 1980 Education (Scotland) Act places a statutory responsibility on local authorities to provide and maintain the school estate in their respective areas.

Under the Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme, which is part funded by the Scottish Government, 11 rural schools will benefit from being refurbished or rebuilt. The focus of this programme has been to increase the proportion of children educated in schools which have been classified as ‘good’ or ‘satisfactory’.

The Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI) carries out safety and cleanliness inspections across NHSScotland hospitals and services and they will undertake announced and unannounced inspections to each acute hospital in NHSScotland at least once every 3 years. By inspecting care HEI help to ensure that healthcare services are meeting the required standards of care, that good practice is identified and areas for improvement are addressed.

HEI inspectors undertake announced and unannounced inspections of healthcare services. These will involve physical inspection of the clinical areas, and interviews with staff and patients. HEI publish a written report 8 weeks after the inspection.

• Announced inspection: the service provider will be given at least 4 weeks’ notice of the inspection by letter or email.

• Unannounced inspection: the service provider will not be given any advance warning of the inspection.

• Follow-up inspection: the NHS board and hospital may or may not be given advance notice of the inspection. A safety and cleanliness follow-up inspection will take place no later than 26 weeks from the publication of the initial report.

HEI's focus is to reduce the Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI) risk to patients through a rigorous inspection framework which:

• provides public assurance and protection, to restore public trust and confidence

• contributes to the prevention and control of HAI

• contributes to improvement in the healthcare environment including infection control, cleanliness and hygiene and the broader quality improvement agenda across NHSScotland.

By looking at the findings, HEI have built up a picture of the quality of infection control, hygiene and cleanliness in the hospitals we inspected across Scotland. HEI have highlighted a number of positive findings and make recommendations about how NHS boards, hospitals and services can improve.