Chamber and committees

There are no regulations or Scottish Government guidelines on minimum nurse to patient or nurse to healthcare assistant ratios, or use of minimum staffing ratios.

Guidelines were issued to NHS boards in Scotland regarding the use of the national nursing and midwifery workload and workforce planning tools (CEL 32/2012). These tools are nationally validated and statistically robust and are used to derive the nursing number for each clinical area as appropriate through measurement of the actual workload, as part of a broader approach incorporating nurses’ professional judgement with quality measures. From April 2013, all NHS boards are expected to use the tools to inform local nursing and midwifery planning.

There are now 5,829 more people working in the NHS (excluding GPs and GDPs) than when the SNP came to Government. This represents an increase of 3.9%.

The Scottish Patient Safety Programme was launched in January 2008 and now has an aim to reduce hospital mortality by 20% by 2015. Scotland is the first country in the world to implement a national patient safety programme across the whole healthcare systems.

Figures show that acute hospital mortality across Scotland continues to reduce by 12.4% since 2007. That equates to around 8,500 fewer than expected deaths, a result of our robust safety system working.

Further information regarding NHS mortality rates can be found at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Quality-Indicators/Publications/2013-02-26/2013-02-26-HSMR-Summary.pdf?94044131041

Since 2007-08 there has been an increase in the number of NHS Scotland staff.

In September 2007 there were 131,094.8 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) staff (154,180 headcount) working in NHS Scotland, which has risen to 132,541.5 WTE (155,781 headcount) staff in December 2012, an increase of 1,446.7 WTE staff (1,601 headcount).

NHS boards are required annually to provide workforce projections for all staff groups including radiographers. The workforce projections are used to identify supply and demand requirements across NHSScotland and also to inform education needs. NHS boards are also required to publish their workforce plans on an annual basis.

The Scottish Government expects all NHS boards to have robust processes in place to ensure the provision of safe, effective and high quality patient care which is delivered by the right professional at the right time.

The information requested on how many (a) radiographers and (b) vacancies for radiographers there are in each NHS board can be found through the following web links:

Number of radiographers by NHS board:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/publications/2013-02-26/AHP_Staff_D2012.xls?93440754

Number of vacancies for radiographers by NHS board:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2013-02-26/AHP_vacancies_D2012.xls

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-14689 on 20 May 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/58157.aspx.

We expect clinicians to adhere to relevant clinical standards and guidelines when planning an individual’s diabetes care.

SIGN Guideline 116: Management of Diabetes makes it clear that all patients with diabetes should be screened in a timely manner to assess their risk of developing a foot ulcer. This is supported by the inclusion of a diabetes foot screening indicator in the new Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF) 2012-13.

This will ensure that all people with diabetes have their feet checked and foot risk score recorded as an integral part of their diabetes care and will reduce the number of lower limb amputations.

Through the work of the Scottish Diabetes Group, we have supported the introduction of a foot risk stratification system.

This allows clinicians to assess the major risk factors which may lead to foot ulceration, record them appropriately to calculate a foot risk score and then arrange for the appropriate treatment to be provided. This system of risk stratification ensures that all patients who are at risk of developing a foot ulcer (which if left untreated can lead to amputations), will receive the most appropriate treatment in a timely manner.

Work is progressing through our Scottish Diabetes Foot Action Group to improve access to multidisciplinary foot care, provide structured education for all people with foot complications and raise awareness with staff in hospitals to the importance of foot care for in-patients with diabetes.

Our Scottish Diabetes Foot Action Group (SDFAG) is working closely with Diabetes UK to raise public awareness of foot complications for people with diabetes through the “Put Feet First” campaign.

During the foot screening process, clinicians are expected to make the patient aware of the risk factors that contribute to ulceration and amputation and provide information tailored to the patient’s individual need. This advice is also emphasised through appropriate written information.

This information is available on the NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) Information Services Division (ISD) website. The most up to date figures available are for the financial year 2011-12. These are reproduced in the following table: