Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-15534 on 25 April 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

The data has not been updated since this response.

The Scottish Government does not issue guidance that explicitly states how NHS boards should collect and use data regarding the sex and gender identity of people.

Health Boards are subject to the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (as amended), which underpin the public sector equality duty (PSED) set out in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.

Responsibility for oversight of compliance with the 2010 Act, including compliance with the 2012 Regulations, rests with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which has issued guidance on how the Regulations should be applied in practice.

The definitions used for collecting data on 'sex' from people who attend hospital is defined in the ISD data catalogue, available at this link. http://www.ndc.scot.nhs.uk/Dictionary-A-Z/Definitions/index.asp?Search=S&ID=1000&Title=Sex

A full review of the IT development and security requirements of the Drug and Alcohol Information System, to ensure compliance with the IT specification, will be completed by National Services Scotland (NSS) in December 2018. Following this, the Information Services Division (ISD) in NSS will set out a timetable for implementation in January 2019. It is anticipated that the system will be fully operational in 2019.

This information is being collected through a new Carers Census. The first collection of Carers Census data relates to the first 6 months after the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 came into force (1 April 2018 to 30 September 2018). This data will be completed by local health and social care partnerships and carers centres and is due to be returned to the Scottish Government by the 14 December 2018. The data will undergo quality assurance checking and analysis before publication, which is likely to be in spring 2019.

The last respite publication ( Respite Care Scotland 2015 ) provides data from 2007-08 until 2014-15 on the number of weeks of respite provided or purchased by local authorities in Scotland. The data does not measure the number of carers provided with a break. Figures from before 2007-08 are unavailable.

The new Carers Census will collect data from local health and social care partnerships and carers centres, including data about the number of short breaks provided to carers under the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016. Data for the first 6 months after the Act came into force is due to be returned by 14 December. That data will undergo quality assurance checking and analysis. Publication is likely to be in spring 2019.

In addition to short breaks and respite provided by local authorities, the Scottish Government has funded non-statutory short breaks for carers since 2010. Over £26 million has been provided to the voluntary-sector Short Breaks Fund between 2010-11-2018-19.

79,096 short breaks were provided through the Short Breaks Fund between 2010-11 and 2017-18. This is the number of breaks funded so there may be more than one carer benefiting from each break. Please see the breakdown below for each year and fund. Figures for year 2018-2019 are not yet available.

Number of short breaks provided by voluntary-sector Short Breaks Funds

Information on the number of individuals admitted to general acute hospitals following an opioid overdose is provided in Table 1.

Table 1: Number of people 1 admitted to general acute hospitals in Scotland 2 following an opioid overdose 3 ; calendar years 4 1999 – 2017.

Relevant data was not collected centrally prior to 2016. The Mental Health and Learning Disability Inpatient Census carried out by the Scottish Government and NHS boards shows that there were 814 beds in dementia assessment and dementia care and treatment wards at the end of March 2018; 795 beds in March 2017 and 818 beds in March 2016.

There remains a clinical imperative to ensure that any issues are fully resolved before NHS Lothian take ownership of the new Edinburgh Children’s Hospital. NHS Lothian is working closely with the Project Company to resolve any issues and confirm a revised handover date. Discussion continues to agree level and apportioning of any additional costs.

High quality clinical services continue to be delivered at the existing Royal Hospital for Sick Children and our priority remains maintaining the highest levels of patient care.

All GP practices have secure broadband connections to Scotland Wide Area Network. The speed of their broadband connections varies. The older ADSL broadband connection is provided over home telephone lines and the newer Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology provides a fibre optic connection, much closer to the premises, to provide faster download and upload speeds

The majority of GP sites already have FTTC connections. There is a programme of work to move GP sites still using ADSL technology to FTTC technology. Since October 2016, the programme has improved the secure internet connections for 529 GP practices and branch surgeries. There are 73 GP sites that are still using ADSL connections. Out of these 73 sites, 20 are already on order with BT to be upgraded to FTTC.

It is estimated that by the end of this financial year (2018-19) only 34 sites will remain on ADSL connections. The successful completion of this project depends on the full roll-out of the Scottish Government’s “Reaching 100” project which aims to connect all of Scotland to super-fast broadband by the end of 2021.”

The information on the number of doctors registered and licenced but not practising in Scotland is not held centrally by the Scottish Government and therefore cannot be assessed in detail.

Data provided by the GMC as at 5 December 2018 shows that the number of doctors who have declared they are not practising in Scotland is 68, 0.33% of all doctors registered with a licence to practice.

Fully registered and licensed doctors are subject to Revalidation and will have a connection to a Designated Body or will inform the GMC that they do not hold a connection and therefore GMC determine how these doctors will revalidate. 309 doctors have not yet confirmed their connection to a Designated Body for revalidation and therefore it is unknown whether they are practising.