Questions and answers

Question reference: S4W-27252

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many unfilled consultant posts there are in each NHS board.

The number of unfilled consultant posts broken down by NHS Scotland Board as at June 2015 is published by ISD Scotland and is available on the workforce statistics website at:

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2015-09-01/Consultant_Vacancies_J2015.xls

We currently have the highest medical staffing levels ever, with record numbers of consultants. A combination of different factors involving geography, age profile, retirement, a lack of trainee doctors in a particular speciality or difficulties in recruiting and retaining qualified staff can result in vacancies being hard to fill. Increasing the supply of consultants is particularly challenging due to the length and expense of training. Any fluctuation in consultant vacancies is linked to our efforts to increase capacity by recruiting even more staff. Under this Government, consultant numbers across Scotland have increased by 1,387.8 WTE, or 38.2%, from 3,636.5 WTE in September 2006 to 5,024.3 WTE in June 2015.

This includes:-

171.7% increase in Emergency Medicine Consultants (75.8 to 205.8 WTE),

36.6% increase in Geriatric Consultants (118.9 to 162.4 WTE) and

76.6% increase in Paediatric Consultants (167.2 to 295.4 WTE).

During the same period, the consultant Establishment has increased by 38.3%, rising from 3896.9 WTE in September 2006 to 5,390.5 WTE in June 2015.

The Scottish Government is working with Health Boards to continue to improve workforce planning, ensuring the provision of safe, effective and high quality healthcare, delivered by the right professional at the right time.

Question reference: S4W-27251

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether the number of junior doctors graduating meets the demand in hospitals, broken down by hospital.

Scottish Ministers set annual undergraduate intake targets for Scottish Medical Schools each year based on meeting the requirements for postgraduate Foundation training posts in Scotland. This takes account of the identified needs of Health Boards whilst also ensuring that trainees are able to develop the required skills and competencies relevant to their training programme, which also enables them to progress into higher specialty training in subsequent years. The 2015 undergraduate intake target was set at 848 which corresponds to the current Foundation Year 1 establishment requirement of 804, allowing for some attrition. There was a 100% fill rate of these establishment posts in the 2015 recruitment round. In addition, the Scottish Government continues to provide funding for additional Foundation posts above the establishment projection of 804 to ensure that all graduates of Scottish medical schools who wish to undertake Foundation training in the UK are able to do so. In the 2015 recruitment round, an additional 44 FY1 posts were advertised.

The table below shows the distribution of the total 848 Foundation posts across hospitals in Scotland:

Health Board	Hospital	Number of Trainees	Vacant Posts
Ayrshire & Arran	University Hospital Crosshouse	24
	University Hospital Ayr	18
Borders	Borders General Hospital	16
Dumfries & Galloway	Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary	17
Fife	Victoria Hospital	38	1
Forth Valley	Forth Valley Royal Hospital	45
Grampian	Aberdeen Maternity Hospital	3
	Aberdeen Royal Infirmary	77	4
	Dr Gray’s Hospital	9	3
	Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital	7	1
	Royal Cornhill Hospital	1
	Woodend General Hospital	1	1
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	Glasgow Royal Infirmary	72
	Inverclyde Royal Hospital	21
	Royal Alexandra Hospital	30	1
	Queen Elizabeth University Hospital	115
Highland	Belford Hospital	2
	Lorn & Islands Hospital	2
	Raigmore Hospital	25	2
Lanarkshire	Hairmyres Hospital	19
	Monklands District General Hospital	22
	Wishaw General Hospital	27
Lothian	Royal Hospital for Sick Children	7
	Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh	66	1
	St John’s Hospital	24
	Western General Hospital	44	2
Shetland	Gilbert Bain Hospital	1
Tayside	Carseview Centre	1
	Dudhope House (Young Persons Unit)	1
	Murray Royal Hospital	1
	Ninewells Hospital	67	3
	Perth Royal Infirmary	17	4
	Royal Victoria Hospital	2
Western Isles	Western Isles Hospital	2
Orkney	N/A*	0	0
Totals		824	23**

NHS Orkney does not currently provide training for foundation trainee doctors.

The overall figure should be 848. One is lost from international recruitment.

Scottish Ministers are currently reviewing the Medical students target to allow for future NHS requirement.

Question reference: S4W-27253

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many consultants are due to retire in the next five years in each NHS board.

Scotland currently has record high numbers of consultants. Under this Government, consultants across Scotland have increased by 38.2% to 5,024.3 Whole Time Equivalent. We are working with NHS Boards to ensure safe, effective and high quality healthcare is delivered by the right professional at all times, and we are developing better intelligence through robust medical workforce supply and demand profiles which take into account the effects of consultant retirement and other factors. In accordance with current legislation, we can no longer presume a retiral age as this is discriminatory. As a result, information relating to numbers of NHS consultants retiring in the next five years is not available. However, the number of consultants in post who will have reached the age of 65 within the next five years can be found in the table below.

Number whole time equivalent of consultants who will have reached the age of 65 by financial year.

Retirement year	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-2020	Total
Consultants	65.5	27.4	48.5	45.4	71.8	258.6

It should be noted that not all staff that reach the average retirement age will retire as there is no legal requirement for them to do so.

Question reference: S4O-04174

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 March 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making with the bid for a spaceport to be located in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-24313

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost to each NHS board has been of using services provided by Medinet in each of the last four years.

The specific information is not available centrally.

Six boards have used Medinet during 2013-14 and the costs are provided in the following table:

Board	Cost (£)
Forth Valley	271
Grampian	358
Highland	25
Lothian	5,627
Tayside	305

The Scottish Government policy is very clear that NHS boards should use NHS funding to build sustainable capacity. The use of the private sector should only be used in the margins to deal with short-term capacity issues.

Question reference: S4W-24311

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 17 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that NHS Ayrshire and Arran's audiology services receive sufficient support.

It is a matter for NHS Ayrshire and Arran to determine the level of support to provide for its audiology services in order to meet the needs of the local community through both its own audiology departments and in collaboration with other providers in the area.

The Scottish Government’s sensory impairment policy team is working closely with all partnership leads to support the implementation of the ‘See Hear’ strategy.

Question reference: S4W-24308

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 17 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to encourage the use of the third sector in the development of audiology services in Ayrshire.

Third sector organisations are already involved in the development and delivery of audiology services in Ayrshire through the local partnerships established to implement the National Sensory Impairment Strategy.

Action on Hearing Loss is an active member of a number of these local partnerships, most notably Ayrshire and Arran, where, along with the Royal National Institute of Blind People, it has driven the development of the sensory impairment locality plan.

Question reference: S4W-24307

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 17 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to develop audiology services in Ayrshire.

The Scottish Government’s National Sensory Impairment Strategy, See Hear was published in April 2014. The strategy established a network of collaborative local partnerships involving local NHS boards, local authorities and the third sector, to re-design and re-align the provision and delivery of services to people with a sensory impairment in a way that is appropriate for the local area: Audiology is a key part of these services.

Action on Hearing Loss is an active member of a number of these local partnerships, most notably Ayrshire and Arran, where, along with the Royal National Institute of Blind People, it has driven the development of the sensory impairment locality plan.

It is a matter for the sensory impairment local partnerships to determine how best to develop audiology services going forward in the Ayrshire and Arran area.

Question reference: S4W-24306

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 17 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many people are receiving audiology services provided by the third sector in Ayrshire.

Question reference: S4W-24310

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 17 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the financial impact will be on NHS Ayrshire and Arran if Action on Hearing Loss Scotland's Hear to Help service ends on 31 March 2015.

Chamber and committees