Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has not undertaken analysis of time savings for staff in relation to improvements of medical records systems. We encourage NHS Boards to ensure they maximise the transformative opportunities offered by digital and understand the impact and the effect on staff and their roles.

National Records of Scotland publish annual accredited official statistics on drug-related deaths in Scotland. The latest release, covering 2023, is available at https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/publications/drug-related-deaths-in-scotland-in-2023/. The accompanying data file provides a more comprehensive breakdown of the statistics, including by both NHS board area and local authority area.

The Scottish Government publishes a quarterly report to provide an indication of current trends in suspected drug deaths in Scotland. The data in this report is operational information from Police Scotland who compile figures on the basis of reports from police officers attending scenes of death. This is management information and not subject to the same level of validation and quality assurance as Official Statistics. The latest release, covering July to September 2024, is available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/suspected-drug-deaths-scotland-july-september-2024/. The accompanying data file provides a more comprehensive breakdown of the figures, including by Police Division.

The Scottish Government remains fully committed to reducing drug deaths and harms. Through the National Mission we are seeing success across a wide range of actions designed to save lives and reduce harms. The total funding proposed for alcohol and drugs, including health board baseline funding, is over £150 million in 2025-26. This includes maintaining £112 million funding for Alcohol and Drug Partnerships, continuing to fund grassroots organisations through £13m via the Corra Foundation, and supporting a wide range of activity - including supporting residential rehabilitation.

In an assessment of ways to overcome the challenges of rurality, submitted by Alcohol and Drug Partnerships in several rural areas to Public Health Scotland, a number of collaborative and innovative actions were described.

These included:

• Increased use of non-statutory services, informal local networks and peers to engage and support people, thus freeing up capacity to deliver rapid access and ensuring that staff can work at highest level within their banding
• Utilising generic primary and secondary care staff and settings to deliver care for example when weather disrupts usual access
• Development of more generic pathways for all drugs and alcohol referrals (given in many places the same staff deal with these issues)
• Some areas now have formal arrangements with other Health Boards to utilise 82 guidelines (Shetland and NHS Grampian), and to share expertise (Western Isles and Borders)

The Alcohol and Drug Partnerships in Aberdeenshire and other rural areas were asked to submit structured assessments of how they are trying to overcome the challenges of rurality to the PHS MAT Implementation Support (MIST) team.

The assessment demonstrated the ways in which teams had maximised access and choice through technology, travel and different models of care, such as:

• Offering a choice of venues to be seen at; such as GP practice, home and community hubs,
• High use of self-referral and telephone, ‘tele-health’ technology such as NEAR ME;
• Wide use of bus passes, taxis and third sector volunteers to take people to appointments.

In 2024-25 NHS Grampian was allocated £10,469,033 for the ADPs in the region. Distribution of these funds is a matter for the local ADPs.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. This is a matter for individual NHS Boards.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. Decisions around the provision of mental health services is a local responsibility, planned by Integrated Joint Boards and delivered through a mixture of NHS, local authority and third sector organisations. The availability of service, including via digital platforms, will vary depending the local population needs and will be guided by clinical decision making.

Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Action Plan (2023) set out actions to support employers in ensuring that the needs of rural communities are met through national work to develop a Health and Social Care Rural Workforce Recruitment Strategy which will also take into account the mental health and wellbeing workforce.

As part of this national work and in collaboration with NHS Education for Scotland’s (NES) Centre for Workforce Supply and the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care, we will develop a sustained model of direct support that will provide employers with the help they need to improve recruitment success.

The number of cancelled operations under ‘non-clinical/capacity reasons’ is the most granular level of detail that’s provided from PHS’s website, breakdown as follows:

The Scottish Government regularly publishes a register of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) submitted to the Scottish Ministers for confirmation since 2012: https://www.gov.scot/publications/compulsory-purchase-order-register/. The current register, published in December, includes CPOs received up to the end of October 2024.

Whilst the register of CPOs does not include information on whether orders submitted for confirmation were opposed, it does indicate where orders were confirmed with modifications.

The Scottish Government recognises the opportunities of digital options in health and social care, particularly in rural areas where such services can help to reduce travel and address potential inequality. The Digital Health and Care Strategy’s Delivery Plan 2024-25 sets out our priorities for implementation and references a number of examples that are already helping to address challenges.

Although these programmes are nationwide and not targeted specifically at rural communities, these examples are known to provide support:

• The online consultation service Near Me that provides flexibility and reduces the need for travel where people may face transport of financial pressures, saving an estimated 70 million travel miles to date. Now a mainstream service, it provides some 30,000 online consultations a month.
• The Connect Me self-monitoring service supports people at home, allowing them to provide information about their wellbeing through text message, an app, or online. The service has supported over 107,000 people with hypertension alone.
• Digital Mental Health services continue to offer additional support, with some 74,000 referrals in the past year.? These deliver a range of mental health therapies and increased access for those who wish to use them.

The Digital Health and Care Strategy’s Delivery Plan is monitored for progress through the year and will be updated for 2025-26.