Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government works closely with local teams and expert groups to develop appropriate alternatives to attendance at A&E, minimise the need for admission, reduce length of stay and increase options and processes for timely and appropriate discharge which would in turn improve occupancy levels.

Decisions on capacity levels are ultimately for local health boards and their planning partners to make however, the Delayed Discharge and Hospital Occupancy Action Plan has been put in place to support systems to create the necessary capacity to deal with emerging pressures.

This Government is committed to ensuring the people of Scotland can access NHS services that meet their needs and provide the highest standard of care in the right place, at the right time.

Health services continue to face sustained pressure, and this is not unique to Scotland - with similar challenges being felt right across the UK. The 2024-25 Scottish Budget provides more than £19.5 billion for health and social care and an extra £500 million for frontline boards. Additionally, we continue to grow our NHS workforce and as at March 2024, NHS Staffing levels are at record high.

We also continue to grow our capacity through the expansion of Hospital at Home services. By providing care in this way we’re enabling more people to receive treatment in the comfort of their own home rather than on an acute ward, relieving pressure on frontline services in traditional hospital settings.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland report h-h-progress-update-march-2024.pdf (ihub.scot) that H@H services prevented over 14,400 people spending time in hospital during April 2023 to March 2024. This represents an increase in bed days of 52% compared to the same period in the previous year.

The Scottish Government has an existing improvement Programme informed by evidence-based best practice. Through this approach we are working with Health Boards and the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) to implement actions that will improve patient flow through our acute sites, in turn reducing A&E waiting times.

We are working with boards to focus on the greatest areas of productive opportunity, many of which, are in line with the recommendations set out in the RCEM guidance, such as strengthening Same Day Emergency Care services, improving access to clinical decision makers from other services and enhancing the escalation process.

We regularly meet with RCEM to discuss this approach and to collectively improve experience for staff and patients.

Any unnecessary delay in hospital is unacceptable and below the standard we would expect. The Scottish Government recognises the relationship between crowding in A&E and increased risk of harm which is why we remain committed to delivering improved A&E performance.

There has been an expansion of 68 posts in Clinical Radiology specialty training since 2014. Clinical Radiology is a competitive specialty which has historically filled posts at 100%. The 2025 expansion process is currently underway and will conclude later this year. This will consider the need for expansion in all medical specialties, including clinical radiology and clinical oncology, with the overall aim of ensuring Scotland has a sufficient supply of trained doctors coming through the system to meet anticipated future demand.

Consultant radiologists have increased by 34.2%, from 304 headcount ten years ago (March 2014) to 408 headcount in March 2024 .

An Oncology Task and Finish Group was established in May 2024 to improve access to safe, quality oncology services by planning, on a population basis across Scotland, a safe and sustainable operating model for NHS Scotland Oncology Services.

The Chief Medical Officer met with the Royal College of Radiologists on 14 December 2023 and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer met with them on 16 May 2024. A representative of the Royal College of Radiologists is a member of the Oncology Task and Finish group that is developing a sustainable operating model for NHS Scotland oncology.

There are no meetings arranged with NHS England.

a) The Scottish Government recognises the need for active measures to improve retention across the health and social care workforce, which is essential to ensure confidence in longer-term modelling of a sustainable future medical workforce to meet future clinical service demand.

Retiring employees who wish to continue in employment that is suitable to them and the service are supported by the Retire and return provisions in the NHSScotland Retirement Policy . In addition, the NHSScotland Flexible work location policy and NHSScotland Flexible work pattern policy provide staff with a range of flexible working options to help them to balance their lifestyle whilst maintaining and promoting the best possible service to our patients and service users. We will continue to consider ways to increase staff retention alongside health boards.

b) As stated previously in answer to S6W-28159 on 25 June 2024, The Chief Medical Officer met with the Royal College of Radiologists on 14 December 2023 and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer met with them on 16 May 2024.

We will continue to engage with them through their representation on the Oncology Task and Finish group that is developing a sustainable operating model for NHS Scotland oncology.

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 .

An Oncology Workforce Review was completed in 2023 with a proposal for an Oncology Transformation Programme for Scotland.

As part of the transformation programme, an Oncology Task and Finish Group was established in May 2024 to support oncology services by planning, on a population basis across Scotland, a sustainable operating model to improve access to safe, quality services. One of its aims is to reduce unwarranted variation in and inequity of access to oncology services.

A new Clinical Oncology training rotation in NHS Highland is also being explored in an effort to make the North of Scotland a more attractive place to work.

As stated previously in answer to S6W-28153 on 25 June 2024, there has been an expansion of 68 posts in Clinical Radiology specialty training since 2014. Clinical Radiology is a competitive specialty which has historically filled at 100%. The 2025 expansion process is currently underway and will conclude later this year. This will consider the need for expansion in all medical specialties, including clinical radiology and clinical oncology, with the overall aim of ensuring Scotland has a sufficient supply of trained doctors coming through the system to meet anticipated future demand.

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 .

Operational matters such as decisions around clinical space, office space and picture archiving and communication system access are the responsibility of individual health boards.