Chamber and committees

From April 2024, social care workers in the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sectors in a direct care role, and those working in the PVI sector to deliver funded early learning and childcare will see their pay increase to at least £12 per hour. This will mean an increase that could be worth up to £2,000 per year for those on full-time contracts. This uplift recognises the financial pressures of those working in these sectors, and will help to address issues with recruitment and retention.

Across both the adult social care and child care sector, we are also working closely with partners, including COSLA and individual Local Authorities, to understand and address workforce challenges.

We are committed to improving fair work practices across the adult social sector and, through the Fair Work in Social Care Group (FWISCG), we are taking action to improve the experiences of the workforce. Alongside a workstream on pay, the Group is focused on establishing a set of minimum standards for terms and conditions, developing a framework to embed the principles of effective voice in social care, and advancing sectoral bargaining arrangements.

We are working with partners and staff from across the childcare sector to develop a Strategic Framework for Scotland’s Early Learning and School Age Childcare Profession. The framework will set out the priorities for the profession now and in the coming years, as well as actions we will take to support a sustainable, diverse and thriving profession. We have also implemented a Protection of Vulnerable Groups fee waiver for childcare workers until March 2024 to help support workers with the cost of living.

The only precision medicine accepted by the Scottish Medicines Consortium where the companion diagnostic test is not yet offered by NHS Scotland laboratories is Pemigatinib (SMC Number 2399).

We are continuing to work closely with key partners, such as the Scottish Strategic Network for Genomics Medicine (SSNGM), to ensure there is capacity within laboratories for companion diagnostics tests to be offered as soon as practically possible.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) continues to provide early information - on an in confidence basis - to Health Boards on medicines in clinical development that are expected to require a companion diagnostic through regular horizon scanning reports.

As part of the Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine (SSNGM), the Scottish Genomic Testing Advisory Group (SG-TAG) for cancer is now live, and has successfully carried out a review of a new genomic testing pathway for biliary tract cancer which was approved for implementation. This cancer pathway includes diagnostic and prognostic targets, and also targets for SMC approved medicines. The equivalent group for Rare and Inherited Conditions is due to launch next month. Both groups will include a process for considering the laboratory genomics delivery model as well as the cost of the genomic testing pathway for SMC approved medicines.

Monitoring of performance against the nationally agreed criteria in the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme, which now includes a requirement to demonstrate adequate provision of psychological support, allows us to identify where challenges are being faced in the delivery of high-quality stroke care and supports the implementation of quality improvements.

Demonstrating provision of post-stroke psychological care is a new requirement for NHS Boards and therefore it will take time for implementation to be successful.

The Scottish Government expects NHS Boards to increase performance against the criteria outlined in the review process, and we will work with them to support this.

The new Stroke Improvement Plan , published in June, includes a commitment to assess the current ability of NHS Boards to implement the National Model of Psychological Care in Stroke (Scotland).

This is being assessed via NHS Board reviews, which now include a requirement to demonstrate adequate provision of psychological support for those who have suffered a stroke.

In September, we published the National Specification for Psychological Therapies to help support improvements in the delivery of psychological care.

While the Scottish Government holds information on the number of overall psychology posts and vacancies, we do not hold information on specialty psychology roles. Decisions on such specialty roles are for Health Boards to address.

Psychology staffing has more than doubled (+131.6%, as of 30 June 2023) since 2007 and we are increasing the postgraduate student intake for Psychology Masters and Doctorate programmes by a total of 60 trainees between 2021 and 2023.

We published a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Plan on 7 November, which set out the actions we will take to ensure we have a resilient and sustainable workforce, with the right skills who are able to deliver the new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

A public health campaign to help remove stigma and raise awareness of the symptoms of menopause is in development and is planned at present to be delivered within the current financial year.

Priority six in the Stroke Improvement Plan is focused on psychological care and includes commitments to understand the availability of existing resources and develop strategies for raising awareness of the emotional and psychological impact of stroke on mental wellbeing. Work to appraise the range of resources currently available is scheduled to begin in 2024.

Education and training programmes on post-stroke psychological and emotional impacts are available as part of the Stroke Training and Awareness Resources (STARs) Core Competencies and Advancing Modules, hosted by Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland (CHSS). These resources were developed with the input of clinicians from across Scotland.

The criteria for NHS Board reviews sets out the Scottish Government’s expectation that all staff potentially dealing with hyperacute stroke patients should have undertaken the STARS Advancing Modules.

The Women’s Health Plan recognises that many women face multiple and often overlapping disadvantages and barriers to health and healthcare. That is why we aim to take an intersectional approach across all the actions in the Women’s Health Plan, so that all women enjoy the best possible health throughout their lives.

This includes the NHS Inform Women’s Health Platform which has comprehensive information on menopause translated into five languages, easy read and BSL.

We are working closely with The Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE) who continue to support the work of the Plan through their dedicated lived experience programme. This included a series of webinars on menopause, with live British Sign Language interpretation as well as visual resources. The resources are available online, or via hard copy.

The ALLIANCE have also produced a toolkit for delivering Conversation Cafes to facilitate informed and open conversations among women about women’s health – including menopause - with an accompanying resource hub . This model also supports the sharing of information with women who cannot or prefer not to access information online.

Priority two in our new Stroke Improvement Plan , published in June is focused on awareness raising and includes a commitment to establishing the current degree of public understanding of FAST and stroke symptoms.

This work is currently underway and will help inform the most effective way of raising public awareness of stroke symptoms, including FAST campaigns.

In addition to FAST campaigns, we will also consider how awareness of the less common symptoms of stroke can be increased. We will continue to work with third sector organisations to consider how best to deliver future public health campaigns to raise awareness of stroke symptoms.