Chamber and committees

We welcome the focus on perinatal support in the report from the Maternal Mental Health Alliance. Development of perinatal mental health services is a key priority for the Scottish Government to improve the wellbeing and experiences of women, infants and families.

Since 2019, our investment of over £26 million has delivered a substantial increase in statutory and third sector services across Scotland leading to:

o 11 new and 3 expanded Community Perinatal Mental Health Teams

o 10 new and 4 in development Infant Mental Health Services

o 9 new and 1 expanded Maternity and Neonatal Psychological Intervention Services

During this period of significant expansion, some NHS Boards have understandably experienced a number of challenges including around recruitment. The Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Service Development Adviser is regularly in contact with identified NHS leads to help identify and tackle such issues; and we continue to work closely with the Network to look at additional ways to put support in place.

The Scottish Government is committed to continuing to work with NHS boards to support them in managing their allocations and the successful implementation of perinatal and infant mental health services.

The Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board concluded as planned in March 2023, having overseen the development of a range of high quality statutory services and increase in third sector provision across Scotland.

Implementation continues with an interim Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Advisory Group supporting further development of services in a sustainable manner, working alongside the Perinatal Mental Health Network Scotland.

New oversight arrangements are under development and will be announced in due course. We will ensure that the voices and experiences of women, infants and their families remain at the heart of this work.

Final discussions and amendments of the new cancer strategy have been taking place with officials. We intend to publish the Strategy in mid to late June.

The Scottish Government can confirm there are no known shortages of radionuclides involved in bone scans.

Medicines shortages can arise for various reasons such as difficulties with manufacturing or with the supply of raw materials. The production of medicines is complex and highly regulated, and materials and processes must meet rigorous safety and quality standards. While disruptions in medicine supply can occur, they are often short in nature.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government and is a matter for Public Health Scotland. The most recent pancreatic cancer survival rates, published in July 2022 and covering individuals from 2015 to 2019, can be found at the following link: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/13872/estimates-of-survival-from-pancreatic-cancer.xlsx.

NHS Tayside cancer services are currently operating at a stable level with mutual aid from other Health Boards for Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapies for breast cancer. The health board continues to pursue all recruitment opportunities and positive discussions are ongoing about possible future appointments.

Fully funded undergraduate programmes have increased in size for 10 consecutive years. Now we will ensure stability in our universities and aid workforce planning by maintaining our intake target for nursing places for 3 years at this all-time high figure of 4536.

We know that there were fewer applications into nursing at the January 2023 UCAS update, however we continue to expect applications to rise over the summer period. Student Awards Agency Scotland and our Higher Education Institutions continue to work hard to promote programmes by visiting schools, attending careers fairs and promoting the range of opportunities via social media channels.

We know that not everyone will begin their career by participating in an undergraduate programme and undergraduate programmes are not the sole solution to filling vacancies. That is why we are already considering alternative progressive career pathways that can attract new candidates and encourage existing staff to join supported education programmes that enable them to reach registration with the relevant professional bodies.

In collaboration with NHS Education Scotland, Higher Education Institutions, practice partners and other key stakeholders we are actively exploring models to increase the pathways into these careers via potential apprenticeships and ‘earn as you learn’ routes. We are also encouraging individuals to return to the NHS following career breaks via our refreshed commissioned Return to Practice programme which commenced in 2020. Since 2020 a total of 152 practitioners - 140 nurses & 12 midwives - have successfully registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. This year, 82 have commenced the programme (75 nurses and 7 midwives) with 32 so far completing. These routes will be discussed in more detail at the Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce which next meets in June 2023.

In June 2022 the then Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Humza Yousef published a timetable for the implementation of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 on both the Healthcare Improvement Scotland website and Care Inspectorate website .

This timetable is still valid although it is noted the guidance consultation period is now due to start in June 2023, rather than May 2023.

If there is a particular element of implementation you would like further information on, please do not hesitate to contact the Act Implementation Team using [email protected] .

Given the small numbers of highly specialised trainees in paediatric palliative medicine, training is currently delivered at the UK centre of excellence at Great Ormond Street.

With regards to studying for a community children’s nursing (CCN) qualification in Scotland, the Scottish Government has commissioned education specific to the needs of nurses delivering care in the community in the form of the Integrated Community Nursing Graduate Diploma.

This education provides opportunities to select an optional module, one of which is focused on integrated care of children and young people. In tandem with this, the Scottish Government and NHS Education for Scotland, alongside other colleagues and stakeholders, contributed to the revision of the NMC post-registration education standards, available online here Standards of proficiency for community nursing specialist practice qualifications - The Nursing and Midwifery Council (nmc.org.uk) .

These standards continue to include provision for the development of community children’s nurses education programmes and higher education institutions in Scotland, and across the UK. We are now considering how best to develop programmes in alignment with the revised standards.

This is a matter for NHS Boards. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.