- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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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
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how it is closing the digital divide to support people in (a) rural areas and (b) Scotland to access online health and care information.
Answer
We recognise that technology can have a positive and transformative impact on peoples’ lives, but equally, we must ensure that no-one is left behind who wishes to engage in this way. Our focus on digital inclusion is a key priority not just in health and care but across Scotland, as key in addressing digital access inequalities.
The Near Me Service enables people to attend appointments in their homes via video consultations and reducing the need to travel long distances. While available across Scotland, the service is beneficial to people living in rural areas who otherwise may face long journeys to attend appointments. Near Me is valuable in giving people options on accessing healthcare in a way that is convenient for them and saves people having to take time off work, arrange childcare, or arrange transport. The service currently supports around 12,000 consultations each week and has saved an estimated 60 million travel miles to date, with associated benefit to the environment. The scheme is being extended so that people can use it in community settings such as libraries, community, and health and care facilities. These new hubs also provide private confidential spaces, improved connectivity, and support for people with lower digital confidence or limited or no access to a suitable device, further helping to reduce the digital divide. We are also working with Social Security Scotland on a dedicated video platform, initially piloting use in support of child disability payments, as well as the use of Near Me in social care settings.
In 2021 we launched the Digital Inclusion in Care homes programme, which saw strong partnership with the social care and social work sectors. This involved the distribution of iPads and Mifi connectivity to 75% of care homes (91% of resident population). Some 9% of homes had no devices for resident use prior to initiative. We have extended connectivity support and data packages for devices for a further year, and we have extended the digital training and leadership package available to residents and professionals through a collaboration with Barclays Digital Eagles.
Through initiatives like the Connecting Scotland programme, the Scottish Government continues to invest in digital inclusion, enabling people to interact with their health and care data digitally, where they wish to. Some 60,000 people have benefited from the programme to date from devices, skills and connectivity, with a commitment to support a total of 300,000 people over the length of this parliament. We have also launched a new Digital Inclusion programme, with a focus on mental health and housing. The programme will develop, test, and implement a range of digital inclusion models, supporting the delivery of the Digital Health and Care Strategy and contributing to the work of Connecting Scotland to address digital exclusion.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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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 enabling people to (a) book/rearrange appointments, (b) order prescriptions, (c) update their details and (d) generally conduct all routine "transactions" online.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13979 on 30 January 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
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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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, what it has done to enable people to (a) book/rearrange appointments, (b) order prescriptions, (c) update their details and (d) generally conduct all routine "transactions" online, and how many people have made use of these services in the last two years, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13979 on 30 January 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
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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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
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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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, what it is doing to enable prevention, independent living, and healthy ageing through the provision of digital services in the home.
Answer
Scottish Government is doing a range of things to support partners including work on telecare, enhanced use of Near Me and remote monitoring. Delivery is ongoing, as set out in the annual delivery plan for Digital Health & Care (see Care in the Digital Age: delivery plan 2022 to 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ). An update will be published later this year with delivery priorities for 2023-24 and will include an overview of progress against existing commitments.
The Action Plan for Digital Approaches in Care Homes also responds to the current and emerging needs of care home providers and their residents and to realise the benefits of digital technologies. The Plan supports delivery of the Digital Health & Care Strategy and is aligned and informed by a wide range of national strategies, plans and programmes.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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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.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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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 training health and social care staff to ensure that they have the essential digital skills that they need to do their job, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
The development and maintaining of digital skills across the workforce is the responsibility of individual employers and academic institutions. We do not hold information centrally on the amount spent by health and social care organisations on development of digital skills. At a national level, we are supporting the provision of materials, resources and courses to support digital skills via the Digital Skills and Leadership Programme. This programme is led by NHS Education for Scotland, and from October 2021 to December 2022 the Scottish Government spent £790,637 on this national programme.
The Building Digital Skills and Leadership Programme enables the delivery of Priority 4 of the refreshed Digital Health and Care strategy where ‘Digital skills are seen as core skills for the workforce across the health and care sector’, and associated commitments in the Health and Social Care: national workforce strategy. The associated programme priorities are found within the Care in a Digital Age Delivery Plan 2022-2023.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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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, what it has done to develop career development opportunities within the specialist digital, data, design and technology (DDAT) professional workforce within health and social care.
Answer
We are in the process of exploring the feasibility of how we can embed the DDaT Framework into all NHS Scotland Health Boards. This is being discussed collaboratively across health and social care in Scotland and with NHS England to share experiences of ongoing developments and avoid potential duplication of effort.
The DDaT Framework will help provide consistency across health and social care organisations in ongoing development and access to learning resources. It will also enable us to explore a common definition of job roles and align to workforce competition across all sectors in recruitment and retention.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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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 .
