Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold official statistics on the number of, or reason for, NHSScotland staff suspensions. Specific local information will be available from individual NHSScotland health boards, including details of local governance arrangements.

Policies relating to employment issues for NHSScotland staff, such as disciplinary action and the use of suspensions are guided by the Staff Governance Standard, underpinned by Partnership Information Network (PIN) Policies. These policies form part of NHSScotland staff’s terms and conditions of employment and are prepared by the service for the service, with the full backing of the trade unions and professions. In line with current health and safety legislation each health board, as employer, has a duty of care to its employees, including those under suspension. Each Board will have in place a local procedure on suspension, based on the Management of Employee Conduct PIN Policy. This policy details the support and guidance available to both employees and managers and sets out minimum standards which each Board must adhere to locally.

In cases where a doctor or dentist is suspended, NHSScotland health boards are required to follow the procedure set out in NHS Circulars PCS 1990/8, (DD) 1994/1, and PCS (DD) 1999/7.

There are no plans to introduce an independent review of the suspension process at this time.

The figures cited relate to enrolments in further education (FE) and are taken from the Scottish Funding Council’s (SFC) Baseline Report for Academic Year 2014-15. In that period, more learners enrolled in full-time higher education (HE) courses – rising from 31,132 in 2010-11 to 32,384 in 2014-15. Additionally, full-time enrolments across FE and HE increased by 16% between 2006-07 and 2014-15, up from 68,884 to 79,565.

The Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) Act (Scotland) 2007 places a number of duties on local education authorities including ensuring that schools are health promoting. This includes promoting physical, social, mental and emotional wellbeing by supporting pupils to make positive lifestyle choices in relation to their health and wellbeing.

All adults who work in schools have a responsibility to support and develop mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing. It is for the local authority and schools to decide how to develop their own approaches to implement curriculum for excellence, based on local needs and circumstances. Whilst an authority may wish to provide access to school based counselling in their schools, in other areas, schools utilise the skills of their pastoral care or guidance staff and liaise with health services for specialist support when required.

A mental health link person is available to every school, which has been achieved in a variety of ways using various models working to meet local needs. The link worker may be a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) clinician or another speciality such as a primary care worker. However the named link person will be able to contact specialist CAMHS services for advice if they have any concerns about a pupil.

The health budget in Scotland is at record levels and NHS boards continue to be responsible with their partners for local actions in implementing national policy, and decisions on local spending priorities including provision of safe, person-centred and effective child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).

We have invested in the CAMHS workforce with £16.3 million over the last six years to increase the number of psychologists working in specialist CAMHS, with a further £3.5 million committed in 2015-16. Since 2009 the CAMHS workforce has increased by more than a quarter – a 28.0% rise from 764.6 whole time equivalent (WTE) (September 2009) to 978.7 WTE (December 2015).

As part of the additional £150 million the Scottish Government is making available to improve mental health services to 2020 we recently announced that £54.1 million of this package will be allocated to NHS boards over the next four years to improve access to psychological therapies for people of all ages, including children and adolescents.

Spend on mental health is difficult to calculate given the diverse way mental health spend can be reflected in other budgets. There can also be differences in costs data; accounting guidance; and other factors such as organisational change or missing data which can influence year-on-year comparisons, and comparisons with other countries.

Mental health services are a priority for this government, this priority has been further demonstrated through the additional £150 million funding which has been allocated to improve mental health services over the next five years. The investment in NHS boards is intended to increase capacity to deliver services.

As part of this funding, the First Minister announced on 12 January 2016 a £54.1 million package of support to improve access to mental health services for adults and children. This investment includes £24.6 million to improve workforce supply and train existing staff to deliver services for children and young people, as well as psychological therapies for all ages.

Within that additional funding, £15 million has also been made available through the Mental Health Innovation Fund during 2015-18 to support better access to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and to develop innovative approaches to delivering mental health services. The innovation element of the funding covers all ages and is aimed at supporting people in distress including those who have experienced trauma. £1 million is also being provided to NHS Education for Scotland to deliver a three year programme of CAMHS workforce development.

This is on top of the £19.8 million we have invested over the last six years to increase the number of psychologists working in specialist CAMHS by almost 70%.

The Scottish Government is committed to equality and diversity, and that commitment extends to ensuring that these values are fully respected by and reflected in the operation of NHSScotland.

Our nationally agreed Partnership Information Network (PIN) policy Embracing Equality, Diversity and Human Rights was published in December 2013. The policy clearly sets out expectations for staff training in accordance with their role and responsibilities and asks that all boards are able to demonstrate that they require all staff to participate in training. The policy is available at

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2013/12/3747.

The policy is intended to ensure boards and their employees comply with legislation but also to develop a culture which promotes equality, values diversity and recognises the human rights of those working within NHSScotland.

In managing employment related matters all health boards are also required to meet the Staff Governance Standard published on 21 June 2012 which commits NHSScotland employers to ensuring that all staff members are treated fairly and consistently, and that the minimum standards described in the relevant PIN policies are met or exceeded. Further details of the standards can be access from this link http://www.staffgovernance.scot.nhs.uk/.

The standard requires all NHS organisations to demonstrate that staff are well informed and appropriately trained and developed.

The gender reassignment protocol issued to NHS boards in July 2012 makes clear that regular psychotherapy and counselling should be available to patients including the need for psychological assessment to be carried prior to reassignment surgery.

Information on the number of people requesting gender reassignment surgery is not held centrally. There have been seven gender reassignment procedures undertaken in Scotland between 2011-12 and 2014-15. Due to number of procedures being so small and to reduce the risk of disclosure of personal data it is not possible to provide the information at board level. Information on procedures carried out on Scottish patients is not available centrally.

The Scottish Government is committed to equality and diversity, and that commitment extends to ensuring that these values are fully respected by and reflected in the operation of NHSScotland.

Our nationally agreed Partnership Information Network (PIN) policy Embracing Equality, Diversity and Human Rights, published in December 2013, sets out a model policy http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2013/12/3747.

This policy is intended to ensure boards have awareness on this important issue and their employees comply with legislation but also to develop a culture which promotes equality, values diversity and recognises the human rights of those working within NHSScotland.

In managing employment related matters all health boards are also required to meet the Staff Governance Standards published on 21 June 2012 which commits NHSScotland employers to ensuring that all staff members are treated fairly and consistently, and that the minimum standards described in the relevant PIN policies are met or exceeded. Further details of the standards can be access from this link http://www.staffgovernance.scot.nhs.uk/.

These standards requires all NHS organisations to demonstrate that staff are treated fairly and consistently, with dignity and respect, in an environment where diversity is valued.

The Scottish Government issued a gender reassignment protocol to NHSScotland in July 2012. A copy of this can be obtained at the following link: http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/mels/CEL2012_26.pdf.