Chamber and committees

The number of confirmed strokes discharged during 2021 showing total length of stay and length of stay in a stroke unit is in the following table.

For some of the figures, the length of stay in the stroke unit are longer compared to stay in the audit. The patient may have completed the stroke part of their journey, but they did not have a discharge plan, so would be discharged from the audit. However, they are still in the stroke unit, for example if they have another condition that is more important than stroke.

This information is not held centrally.

The Government is clear that the intended purpose of the revised payment arrangements from April 2022 is to recover NHS dental services to ensure that NHS dental contractors can provide necessary care to patients.

NHS dental contractors will therefore receive a multiplier payment in addition to the value of their actual item of service claims. This is part of a blended system of payments which also includes allowance payments, capitation and continuing care and direct reimbursement of expenses such as rental costs. The multiplier arrangement is a fair and equitable response to the current situation of restrictions facing dentistry by returning discretion of earnings back to independent NHS dental contractors.

Every three months the value of the multiplier will be set against concurrent infection, prevention and control restrictions, levels of dental activity and other budgetary considerations at the time of the review point. The purpose of these revised arrangements is to continue to provide appropriate financial support to NHS dental contractors and is therefore assisting in ongoing business planning.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland who want to work, including those receiving adult social care support, are able to access appropriate and flexible employability support.

We will continue to work towards our ambition to reduce the disability employment gap by at least half by 2038 as set out in the Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan. We will do this by supporting disabled people into employment , and ensuring that employers have the skills they need to recruit and retain this vastly underutilised pool of talent. We have reviewed current approaches to supporting disabled people with additional support needs into employment and will publish the findings by Summer 2022.

Through this plan we will work to ensure that our social care system delivers the right type and mix of support to help remove the barriers to work for disabled people.

Current models of care should afford flexibility to the individual to take up employment where possible subject to individual care needs being met. We are currently reviewing the guidance on Self Directed Support (SDS) to strengthen consistency and choice in the way social care is provided.

Going forward, we are committed to building on this as we work towards establishing a National Care Service to provide high quality, consistent and fair social care support across Scotland that enables people to achieve the outcomes they want to lead a full life.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people are able to access the right support for their mental health without stigma, including medication where this is the most appropriate intervention.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the numbers of children and young people aged 19 and under who were prescribed antidepressants by a GP, without seeing a specialist, while waiting for access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

We know that the Covid-19 pandemic has been exceptionally difficult for the mental health and wellbeing of many children, young people and their families. Long waiting times for treatment are unacceptable and we remain committed to meet the standard that 90% of patients begin treatment within 18 weeks of referral. This is why in the 2021-22 financial year we have allocated nearly £40 million to NHS Boards to improve CAMHS; with £4.25 million specifically invested this year to help NHS Boards tackle backlogs, with a clear view of meeting standards and clearing CAMHS backlogs by March 2023.

As set out in the response to S6W-07188 on 21 March 2022, prescribing is a clinical decision based on a prescriber’s judgment as to what they believe is in the best interests of the patient. The prescribing of antidepressants for children and young people is undertaken in consultation with the patient, and where appropriate with their family, to ensure that patient choice is also central to decisions taken regarding treatment and care.

Medication is one aspect of treatment, alongside psychological therapy or other therapeutic interventions, available as an option for children and young people who require support. We continue invest and improve access to other services, including by providing £16 million per annum to ensure that every secondary school in Scotland has access to counselling support; and by investing £15 million in community-based mental health and wellbeing services as part of our focus on early intervention and prevention.

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

Children and young people who are prescribed antidepressants will receive regular medication reviews with their prescribing clinician. The frequency and structure of these reviews will be based on the clinician’s judgment and on consultation with the patient and, where appropriate, with the patient’s family.

Clinicians will refer to the British National Formularyfor Children (BNFC) when prescribing antidepressant medication to children. The BNFC is the standard UK paediatric reference for prescribing and pharmacology.

Clinicians can also refer to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline NG134 which sets out further advice for the prescribing of antidepressant medication to children and young people.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people are able to access the right support for their mental health without stigma, including medication where this is the most appropriate intervention.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the numbers of children and young people aged 19 and under who were prescribed antidepressants by a GP, without seeing a specialist.

Prescribing is a clinical decision based on a prescriber’s judgment as to what they believe is in the best interests of the patient. The prescribing of antidepressants to children and young people is undertaken in consultation with the patient and, where appropriate, with their family, to ensure that patient choice is also central to decisions taken regarding treatment and care.

Medication is one aspect of treatment, alongside psychological therapy or other therapeutic interventions, available as an option for children and young people who require support. We continue invest and improve access to other services, including by providing £16 million per annum to ensure that every secondary school in Scotland has access to counselling support; and by investing £15 million in community-based mental health and wellbeing services as part of our focus on early intervention and prevention.

This process is currently underway. Health Boards have been asked to submit 22/23 plans linked to activity trajectories and requests for funding, which will be used to allocate resources to address orthopaedic surgery waiting lists.

There is currently no publicly available data regarding how patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE) are managed following an initial episode.

Modelling work completed prior to omicron suggested it would be March 2023 before all screening centres in Scotland would reach the point of being able to offer breast screening rounds of 39 months. There are however a number of factors at play including the ongoing pandemic, the steps we are continuing to take to increase capacity in the screening programme, as well as options that are being considered to accelerate the recommencement of self-referrals for women over-70.