Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold this information broken down by referral type.

The Scottish Government is focussed on delivering the commitments set out in our NHS Recovery Plan, published in August 2021.

With regard to cataracts, the Scottish Government is working with Health Boards to undertake additional pre-assessment clinics to assess those patients referred for consideration of surgery. In tandem, Boards are implementing new and more efficient ways of working, including virtual appointments and via telephone to prevent unnecessary visits and travel to hospitals.

The independent sector is also supporting additional cataract surgeries across a number of Health Board areas. In particular, over 3,500 additional surgeries were undertaken by the Independent Sector at NHS Golden Jubilee (NHSGJ) in 21-22, and will continue to deliver an additional 1,000 surgeries in 22-23. Plans are also in place to enable a number of Boards to utilise available capacity at NHSGJ using their own surgeons, who will undertake cataract surgery at the facility. This will allow patients access to treatment more quickly, as well as offering opportunities for training junior surgeons.

The Centre of Sustainable Delivery has been commissioned to support surgical teams across NHSScotland to implement the guidance issued by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. This will increase efficiency and productivity across cataract-only surgical sessions, and high-volume surgery in cataract treatment centres.

We are working closely with Boards to finalise planned care activity plans, including for orthopaedics, for 2022-23 which will be critical to stabilising and improving our health and social care system in the medium term.

The National Treatment Centre (NTC) Programme will deliver the single biggest increase in protected planned care capacity ever created in NHS Scotland. The network of 10 NTCs, will deliver capacity for over 40,000 additional planned procedures and diagnostic care across 12 specialities. Within the next 18 months, NTCs will open in NHS Fife, NHS Forth Valley, NHS Highland and at NHS Golden Jubilee specialising in orthopaedic surgery. On 13 April, we also announced £1.8m of funding to purchase a private hospital in Ayrshire (Carrick Glen) to be developed into a new National Treatment Centre specialising in orthopaedics.

As well as significant investment in new infrastructure, the new NHSScotland Centre for Sustainable Delivery is also leading work to explore new and innovative ideas to reduce In Patient / Day Case and Outpatient waiting times. Examples include:

• The rollout of Active Clinical Referral Triage, to provide patients with information about non-surgical interventions and self-management options;
• Patient Initiated Reviews, enabling patients to be escalated if their condition deteriorates and reduces routine appointments while supporting patients in a safe and clinically appropriate manner; and
• Enhanced Recovery after Surgery pathways, designed to support patients achieve faster recovery after surgery.

The Scottish Government has not held discussions with Cerulean Winds nor NOV Inc as they do not have consented developments under construction. It is therefore premature to discuss contracts for projects which do not yet exist. Developers will be required to submit a Supply Chain Development Statement with bids for the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas decarbonisation (INTOG) leasing rounds when it opens this year. Similarly to ScotWind, developers will need to outline the supply chain activity they commit to undertaking within Scotland, the UK and overseas.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) uses the national waiting times warehouse to collect electronic patient records covering the waits that patients experience waiting for a new outpatient appointment. This data source can be used routinely to identify the specialty of treatment, such as whether the patient was waiting for an appointment in ophthalmology or orthopaedics. However, it is not possible to ascertain whether the appointment involved an assessment of whether the patient is suitable for a particular procedure. This level of information may be held locally by NHS Boards.

Statistics relating to the waits patients experience for new outpatient appointments, at specialty and NHS Board level, are published up to 31 December 2021 and can be found using the following link:

https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/11694/newop_feb22.xlsx .

The Scottish Government is determined to maximise the economic opportunity for the Scottish supply chain from our offshore wind potential.

We will drive forward offshore wind skills development – working with stakeholders to focus on the opportunities for diversification and skills transfer from our oil and gas sector, in line with our commitment to a Just Transition.

The introduction of ScotWind’s Supply Chain Development Statements demonstrates how serious the Scottish Government is about holding developers to account if they do not honour their supply chain commitments and create green jobs .

(a) Available Mental Health Professionals to help Ukrainian refugee;

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the Mental Health Professionals currently available to provide support to Ukrainian refugees.

We recognise the importance of providing a warm welcome to displaced Ukrainians coming to Scotland and recognise that they will have their own unique emotional needs. To support this, the Scottish Government has produced three psychological wellbeing information packs, one for those arriving from Ukraine, one for host families and one for services and staff providing care.

These resources explain the principles of Psychological first aid and provide links to further information sources which can be used to support psychological wellbeing and direct people to appropriate services and support including for example the Scottish Refugee Council. We are ensuring accessibility of this resource by creating an easy read version, along with Ukrainian and Russian translations of the pack.

We expect Ukrainians needing to engage mental health services to do so through the existing, established routes. Health Boards will ensure that people have access to a level of primary and secondary health care services designed to ensure that their health needs are identified and addressed appropriately and effectively. Health Boards have established protocols, working with Health & Social Partnerships and Local Authorities, to provide services to patients who are asylum seekers or refugees, as well as specific learning from both the Syrian Refugee Resettlement Programme and Afghan Relocation & Assistance Policy.

We are already increasing the funding and workforce delivering Psychological Therapies. Equipping those arriving, their hosts and Scottish services to care for the physical and mental wellbeing of those fleeing the war remains a priority.

( b) Recruitment in the next 12 months; The future recruitment plans for mental health professionals are an issue for Health Boards to address as employers. While the Scottish Government provides the policies, frameworks and resources for high quality healthcare, it is for each NHS Board to decide best how to utilise funding, facilities and staff while taking account of national and local priorities to meet local health needs. We expect NHS Boards to plan their facilities and workforce to deliver these services, ensuring the provision of safe, effective and high quality patient care, delivered by the right professional at the right time.

Since 2006-7, NHS mental health expenditure has seen an increase of 65% and these unprecedented levels of direct investment in mental health services are enabling a significant expansion of the mental health workforce, as we continue to create new posts.

Over recent years, in line with our Mental Health Strategy, our Transition and Recovery Plan and the Health and Social Care Workforce Strategy, we have worked with Health Boards and Integration Joint Boards to increase the workforce. Through Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy, we have been working to recruit 800 additional Mental Health Workers. We have also committed to creating a network of 1,000 additional dedicated staff in Primary Care Mental Health and Wellbeing Services by 2026. We are also providing funding for around 320 additional staff in CAMHS over the next 5 years; increasing student intake for Psychology Master’s and Doctorate training programmes; creating new roles, such as Psychology Wellbeing Practitioners in NHS24 and Enhanced Psychology Practitioners in primary care, community, early years, and schools; and increasing nursing student places.

Community Ownership : For the purposes of answering this question Community Ownership is where a community develops owns and operates the renewable energy asset.

CARES Funding : The Scottish Government’s main mechanism for supporting community energy projects is the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) which provides loan and grant funding to assist community groups in developing renewable energy projects which support the growth of community and locally owned energy in Scotland.

Funding for wind energy projects in the last ten years under CARES is as follows:

In determining an application for a marine licence (under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 and Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009) the Scottish Ministers must have regard to protection of the environment and human health, prevention of interference with legitimate uses of the sea and such other matters as the Scottish Ministers consider relevant. Marine licences do not include conditions in relation to Fair Work First criteria and commitments to supporting domestic supply chains. Such conditions cannot be applied to s.36 consents issued under the Electricity Act 1989 for the construction, operation or extension of generating stations either.

ScotWind applicants were required to submit a Supply Chain Development Statement (SCDS) setting out the anticipated level and location of supply chain impact for their projects. We have now seen these statements yield commitments by developers to invest an average projection of £1.5bn in Scotland across each of the 17 ScotWind offshore wind projects. Developers can update their Statements throughout the development phase. Failure to deliver the commitments laid out in the final SCDS can trigger remedies ranging from financial penalties to an inability to progress to seabed lease.

The Scottish Government appreciates the wide interest shown from across society in Draft National Planning Framework 4. The detailed responses received through the Parliamentary scrutiny process and the public consultation are currently being considered. Once the analysis of responses is complete, we will be able to assess the scale of change required to produce a final NPF4. At that point, an update on the forward timetable will be provided.

The Scottish Government do not have information on the total number of single parents that have accessed further education courses at Scottish colleges.