Chamber and committees

As is set out on page 200 of Scotland’s Future, our policy is based on the unique and exceptional position of Scotland in relation to other parts of the UK, on the fee differential, on our shared land border, and common language, on the qualification structure, on the quality of our university sector and on the high demand for places.

We believe that these distinctive characteristics will enable us to justify objectively the continuation of our current policy in a way which is consistent with the principle of free movement across the EU as a whole and which is compatible with EU requirements.

The Scottish Government provides support for non-national museums through Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS). I would advise Morayvia to contact MGS for advice on setting up a new museum. MGS can be contacted at:http://www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/

 The Highlands and Islands Enterprise Moray Team has been in regular contact with Morayvia and is providing ongoing advice to the project, including information about potential funders for future development.

We expect NHS Orkney to work with the management and staff of Balfour Hospital to address the issues identified as requiring improvement and to ensure the action plan is fully implemented.

The answer to S4W-18805 addressed the member’s question about ‘regional college boards’, which she repeats in this question. It may be that the member has in mind safeguarding against profligacy on the part of regional strategic bodies, in which case, the following measures may be pertinent:

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) will have power to impose terms and conditions on grants made to regional strategic bodies.

Regional strategic bodies will have a duty when making plans to have regard to ensuring that the funds it receives from the SFC are used as economically, efficiently and effectively as possible.

Regional strategic bodies will have a duty to have regard to the desirability of preventing unnecessary duplication with actions by Scottish Ministers or the SFC in relation to monitoring college performance.

Where relevant, it would be for the SFC to identify whether minimising overheads was reflected in any principles of governance that regional strategic bodies would be required to comply.

There will be various reasons why the treatment time guarantee and first outpatient waiting time standard are not being met and the reasons will vary across boards in Scotland. Some will be down to increased demand, specific issues locally including staffing etc. For example, Grampian has a pressure in theatre capacity, which is why they are in the process of completing the building of six new theatres.

I have made clear to all board chairmen the need for them to ensure that their board deliver all waiting time standards and the legal guarantee.

Health’s budget in 2013-14 is £11.6 billion of which Territorial and Special Boards have received a core allocation of £8.8 billion. Health’s resource funding has increased by £249 million, delivering on the Scottish Government’s commitment to pass on the resource budget Barnett consequentials in full to the Health Service in Scotland.

This has enabled the NHS workforce to grow by more than 2,300 or 1.8 per cent, in the last year. A total of over £27 million in the current year specifically to support delivery of waiting times standards has also been allocated in the current year. This funding has allocated across all territorial boards including the Golden Jubilee National Hospital.

We are aware that most boards are experiencing difficulties in delivering the legal treatment time guarantee in the specialties of orthopaedic and ophthalmology that is why we have funded the Golden Jubilee to increase capacity in orthopaedics by 10 per cent and to double their ophthalmology service. This capacity will support boards across Scotland to deliver the legal treatment time guarantee.

Health boards also have plans in place to invest over £67 million to increase capacity including the recruitment of around 420 more staff - consultants, nurses and other clinical support staff in the current year.

The specific information requested is not available centrally. Under New Ways, patients wishing to be treated by a named consultant or wishing to be treated at a specific location would have been recorded under social unavailability. However, the reasons for social unavailability being applied was not collected through the New Ways warehouse.

Boards are now required since the introduction of the legal treatment time guarantee on 1 October 2012, to provide information centrally on the specific reasons for patient advised unavailability being applied.

The Scottish Government expects health boards to take all appropriate action to comply with their legal obligation to ensure patients are treated in accordance with the treatment time guarantee. If a patient has not received their treatment within the 12 week maximum waiting time period they should immediately contact their health board so that an appointment can be made to treat them without delay.

Section 10 of the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011 sets out the actions a health board must take where it has not complied with the treatment time guarantee. These are; make such arrangements as are necessary to ensure that the agreed treatment starts at the next available opportunity, provide an explanation as to why the treatment did not start within the maximum waiting time; provide the patient with details of the patient advice and support available and on how to give feedback or raise a concern or complaint.

The Scottish Funding Council is leading work to support the sector in mitigating the impacts of reclassification, and the funding of individual colleges is a matter for that body. I have therefore asked its interim chief executive to respond directly to you.

NHS boards and Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) are responsible for providing mental health and addictions services to meet local needs. Where a person has co-occurring addiction and mental health problems, they should receive evidence-based treatment based on their individual needs. Services are designed and delivered differently across NHS board and ADP areas, and information about individual mental health and addictions services is not held centrally.

In our work to support health boards to meet the access to psychological therapies HEAT target, we have published The Matrix: a Guide to Delivering Evidence-based Psychological Therapies in Scotland, on what treatments are effective for which conditions. This includes sections on the treatment of mental illness co-occurring with alcohol problems and substance misuse. The matrix also stresses that services must provide adequate supervision for staff delivering psychological interventions, to ensure patient safety and the delivery of evidence-based care. In addition, NHS Education for Scotland has developed a programme of training for staff delivering psychological interventions to people with substance misuse problems, including training in motivational interviewing, relapse prevention and recovery management.