Chamber and committees

We issued standing instructions to health boards as part of the delivery of phase 1 of the Covid-19 vaccinations programme (broadly December 2020 – August 2021), requiring health boards to build a capacity to deploy up to 1,400 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) vaccinators in any given week, subject to scheduling of appointments and supply. We maintain this standing instruction for the current winter seasonal Flu and Covid-19 booster programme which requires up to 1,400 WTE vaccinators to be in place for deployment. Deployment in any given week is determined in coordination with the scheduling of appointments and clinics. The substantive difference between phase 1 and the winter programme is that we co-administer flu and Covid-19 boosters, which allows Boards to administer vaccinations at significantly higher rates. We continue to monitor workforce deployment capacity on a weekly basis through the collation of management information.

As set out in the announcement, £62 million for 2021-22 has been allocated for building capacity in care at home community-based services. This is recurring funding intended help to fulfil unmet need, and deal with the current surge in demand and complexity of individual needs, also helping to ease pressures on unpaid carers.

Due to the importance of the autumn/winter vaccines, some health boards are utilising Community Nursing Teams.

This will particularly be for those patients who are on their current caseloads and are housebound. Community Nurses are also supporting vaccinations in care homes, not only to those on caseload but to help support delivery to this priority group. Community Nurses are also undertaking additional shifts in vaccination clinic settings.

The additional funding of £62 million to expand care at home capacity has been approved for distribution to local authorities by the Settlement and Distribution Group meeting on 18th October and will be passed in full to IJBs . The distribution methodology for the funding is GAE for All Adult Social Work for 2021-22 and thereafter.

The distributions for 2021-22 will be made as redeterminations of the General Revenue Grant in March 2022. A letter with the full breakdown of allocation by Local Authority will be issued shortly.

Growing our nursing workforce is crucial and we have steadily increased places on undergraduate nursing courses over 9 consecutive years. Each year we undertake a robust nursing student intakes planning process to determine the target number of nursing students to which Scottish universities should recruit to meet future nursing workforce demands. The process involves significant input from key stakeholders from across the health and education sectors, and uses detailed modelling of current and projected staff and student numbers, including workforce supply and demand for 3-5 years hence, as well as anticipated key service drivers, in coming to a decision.

To address more immediate staffing pressures, the NHS Recovery Plan, which was published on 25 August 2021, commits more than £1 billion of targeted investment for the recovery and renewal of our health service. A key requirement to delivering the Recovery Plan is having the right workforce in place at the right time and it is therefore key that we now develop a new supporting workforce strategy to enable us to do this. We will therefore publish a National Workforce Strategy by the end of this year, which supports remobilisation, recovery and renewal of Health and Social Care Services.

The Scottish Government package of support for Scottish student nurses and midwives is currently at its highest level. The average cost of training a nursing student, over three years of full-time university education, is £55,000. This comprises:

• Teaching grant and tuition fee payments to the university;
• £10,000 non-means tested, non-repayable annual bursary payments to the student;
• travel costs;
• uniform costs;
• health checks;
• disclosure checks;
• and a range of additional funding students can also apply for, such as Dependant’s Allowance, Single Parent’s Allowance, Childcare Allowance for Parents and Disabled Students’ Allowance.

Table 1 highlights data from UCAS showing both the number of applications and number of accepted applicants to pre-registration nursing programmes from 2007 to 2020. Figures for 2021 have not yet been published yet.

Table 1

Applications and acceptances to nursing at Scottish providers by year

Source: UCAS

Booster vaccinations in Scotland started as soon as possible once the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) provided their advice on boosters, which stated that the booster dose should be offered no earlier than six months after completion of the primary vaccine course.

627,898 people have received a booster to 29 October, and we are working as quickly as we can, prioritising those most vulnerable.

Data on boosters by JCVI priority group is not yet published. We continue to work closely with Public Health Scotland to develop the vaccination data to provide robust statistics that enhance public understanding.

Transport Scotland worked closely with ScotRail to develop contingency measures to mitigate the impact that strike action would bring. COP26 Delegates, business as usual and key workers were considered in the development of mitigation measures. I am delighted that an agreement has been reached with the RMT which means that all four rail unions have now accepted a pay offer ending all current disputes.

Booster vaccinations in Scotland started as soon as possible once the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) provided their advice on boosters, which stated that the booster dose should be offered no earlier than six months after completion of the primary vaccine course.

627,898 people have received a booster to 29 October, and we are working as quickly as we can, prioritising those most vulnerable.

Data on boosters by JCVI priority group is not yet published. We continue to work closely with Public Health Scotland to develop the vaccination data to provide robust statistics that enhance public understanding.