- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how it is preparing the health and social care workforce to deliver different types of services in different ways online.
Answer
The cross-sector Building Digital Skills & Leadership Programme hosted by NHS Education for Scotland is our main programme to support the ongoing work of health and care employers, alongside the redesign work of individual change programmes (such as Near Me) required to ensure meaningful adoption and use of online services. Progress is reported in the 2022-23 Delivery Plan published last year.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy, how many devices or pieces of equipment it has bought since October 2021 to enable health and care staff to work remotely/flexibly, broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) type of device or equipment.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14107 on 2 February 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 .
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how it is improving digital health literacy.
Answer
Improving digital health literacy remains critically important. The Scottish Government recognises that meaningful use of digital, including the information accessed through digital technology, is only possible if it is well designed, easy to understand and easy to use.
The use of simple technology has become part of everyday life for many and can also be used to help better manage our health needs. For example, the Connect Me service uses a person’s own simple devices and sometimes small basic medical equipment to enable individuals to share information with health care professionals and/or automated monitoring services. In addition, the Near Me video consultation platform, as highlighted in S6W-14105 on 2 February 2023, was introduced to 10 libraries in March 2022. As part of the A Collective Force for Health & Wellbeing (scottishlibraries.org) the aim is to improve digital access to health, social care and public services. With iPads and laptops provided, local library staff are trained in use of the public Near Me website and video platform. It will establish libraries as a go-to place in communities for health and wellbeing information using digital technology, as well as supporting health literacy, digital skills and improved access.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy, how much it has spent on supporting health and social care organisations to have access to the basic resources required to develop as digital organisations, broken down by organisation.
Answer
Supporting health and social care organisations to develop as digital organisations takes the form of many different resources and initiatives. This includes, for example, development of guides such as the Digital Telecare Playbook that supports organisations manage the transition to digital telecare. It also includes the skills of staff, and investment in basic infrastructure such as web cameras to enable use of Near Me. These costs are built into budgets for national programmes, and into local organisations budgets for the delivery of digital developments. It is therefore not possible to breakdown funding. This year, in 2022-23 as part of the overall health portfolio investment, we are investing £99.6 million in digital health and care. This covers a huge amount of work ‘behind the scenes’ that is needed to modernise our health and care systems.
This investment in our systems – and the required cyber security, the training of staff to use the systems and the ongoing maintenance and development – takes up most of our budget. The 2022-23 Delivery plan provides further detail on spend across the Digital Health and Care directorate in its support of health and care organisations.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy, how much it has spent on introducing new fully digital clinical and care services, treatment and support since October 2021, broken down by service.
Answer
In addition to spend set out in the answer to question S6W-14087 on 27 January 2023 in 2022-23 as part of the overall health portfolio investment, Scottish Government are investing £99.6 million in digital health and care. 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 .
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy, whether it has completed its review of the current digital funding delivery model for health and social care, and, if so, what the outcomes were.
Answer
This work is ongoing and is set within the context of the wider financial settlement.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how the development of a digital platform will contribute to the twin aims of citizen and staff access to relevant real-time information across the health and care system.
Answer
Scottish Government and COSLA will shortly set out a Data Strategy for Health and Social Care, which will articulate the first set of principles and deliverables needed to improve the access and use of data.
One of the core ambitions of the Data Strategy is to: empower the people of Scotland by giving individuals clear and easy access to, and the ability to manage and contribute to, their own health and social care data where it is safe and appropriate to do so. To achieve this, we will confirm data sources and data sets that are safe to be consistently shared. For individuals, data access will be enabled through the implementation of the Digital Front Door.
To support access for our professionals, the National Digital Platform, and its associated National Clinical Data Store provide the foundation for consistent access to information. The success of this has so far been demonstrated through the accessibility of vaccination information. Establishing and expanding these platforms is a critical focus to providing staff with a safe and secure way to access clinical and care data. More details can be found at The National Digital Platform .
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy, how much it has spent on buying devices and equipment since October 2021 to enable health and care staff to work remotely/flexibly, broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) type of device or equipment.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14107 on 2 February 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 .
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to improve the (a) security capabilities and (b) resilience of its health and social care services’ digital systems.
Answer
The Scottish Government actively promotes cyber security in order to reduce the risk of cyber-attacks and protect against the unauthorised exploitation of systems, networks and technologies. We promote best practice, regulatory requirements, and global international standards for the improvement of Cyber security practices.
For the NHS, each Health Board must report improvements to resilience and capabilities to the Scottish Government through regulatory audits. In doing so the Scottish Government is able to monitor continual improvements by Boards against the Scottish Public Sector Cyber Resilience Framework.
The Scottish Government, have also established the Cyber Centre of Excellence to enhance its response to security. This will enable Scotland-wide management of cyber security services, that can be proactively, securely and consistently delivered across the NHS.
Additionally, supporting the adoption of Microsoft Office 365 across the health and care sector allows organisations to make use of the most up to date threat protection available from a trusted supplier.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has put in place a regular assurance process for reporting and regular discussions to support health and care organisations with planning, strategy development and other key decision making as appropriate.
Answer
The Health Planning process is intended to provide Scottish Government with confirmation that NHS Boards and their partners have plans in place to continue to deliver safe and accessible treatment and care and fully deliver Ministerial priorities. Plans are submitted by NHS Boards and reviewed internally by policy, finance, and workforce officials.
The plans represent the agreement between SG and NHS Boards setting out how Boards will deliver Ministerial priorities and work towards a more sustainable model of care; and, in doing so support Scottish Government to hold Boards to account for their contribution over the year. Progress is reviewed and reported on quarterly, and NHS Boards have the opportunity to formally update their plans on an annual basis.
Scottish Government leads and/or attends regular meetings with Board Chief Executives, Functional Directors, and other clinical and non-clinical stakeholders to discuss planning, strategy development and other key decision making as appropriate.
