Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government expects older people’s health or personal care needs to be clearly detailed within their care plans and, for them to be supported by appropriately trained staff, irrespective of whether they are at home, or in a care home.

Local authorities and their planning partners are responsible for determining the types and levels of services required to meet the needs of vulnerable people in their areas and either providing those services directly or commissioning them from independent sector providers. The onus would be on the service provider to set the standards and to ensure staff were appropriately trained to carry out this area of care.

The Scottish Government does not hold information centrally regarding incidences of carers refusing to undertake stoma care duties.

In reviewing our programmes we are increasingly examining their effectiveness for the least well off amongst our communities for example the forthcoming Health Scotland report into smoking cessation. However the Government does not have control of the socio-economic levers including taxation and benefits which would enable it to effectively pursue the actions called for in this report.

This government believes the answer to health inequalities will not be found in simply shifting responsibility between organisations. It requires as the government set out in its response to the Christie Commission for public service organisations to break through bureaucratic barriers and operate across organisational boundaries to produce integrated services that deliver better value for money and improve the social and economic wellbeing of the nation. Together with ensuring people and communities have a much stronger voice in the decisions that affect them and respond to their aspirations and concerns. This is fundamental to the government’s engagement and encouragement of community planning partnerships.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-17896 on 12 November 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The Scottish Government undertook a considerable body of work prior to the adoption of the single room policy in NHSScotland. The Single Room Provision Steering Group was established in order to review available literature and evidence for single rooms, a public attitude survey, a nursing staffing report and a financial impact study. The steering group’s final report may be accessed here:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/12/04160144/0.

In addition, the Chief Medical Officer took forward an Expert (or Delphi) Consultation, which concluded that the current provision of single room accommodation was insufficient across NHSScotland, and 100 per cent single room provision is clinically appropriate in most clinical settings. The report on the outcome of the consultation may be accessed here:

http://www.pcpd.scot.nhs.uk/PDFs/DelphiReport.pdf.

Over the next year the Scottish Government will continue to review research that has been undertaken since the policy was formulated, in order to assess and bring together the evidence base now available with a review to testing the assumptions made within the current policy.

With respect to the new South Glasgow Hospitals, the design and clinical model are based on 100 per cent single rooms in the adult hospital, which we believe for the reasons set out in the Steering Group report will be to the benefit of patients.

It is for each health board to plan, deliver and audit the provision of stoma care in its area.

A quality and cost effectiveness review on stoma care is being led by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde for NHS Scotland and will take forwards all service issues with respect to the provision of stoma care. Soundings are currently being taken by the board's officers with interested parties on the terms of their review.

The result of that review will then be available to all boards to help their future planning of stoma care services to best meet the needs of patients in a cost effective way.

The information requested is not held centrally.

NHS boards have an on-going responsibility to ensure that provision of a service is effective, is of a high standard and meets the needs of the patient. There are numerous ways in which the performance of a particular service can be monitored such as liaising with clinical networks and patient groups, applying continuous quality improvement tools and local service audits where necessary.

Stoma care clinical nurse specialists review developments in the stoma care supplies market through information published by suppliers and through the national tender process undertaken by NHS National Services Scotland’s National Procurement division.

Our success in safety is well documented and does not necessarily require the inspection of individual practices. Scotland is the first country in the world to implement a national patient safety programme across the whole healthcare system and The Scottish Patient Safety Programme in Primary Care was launched 14 March 2013.

The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) rewards contractors for the provision of quality care and helps to standardise improvements on the delivery of primary medical services and contractor must co-operate fully with any reasonable inspection or review (including the health board’s QOF annual review) that the health board or another relevant statutory authority wishes to undertake in respect of the achievement points to which it says it is entitled.