Chamber and committees

A short-term detention certificate (STDC) should be the usual route into hospital for someone who needs compulsory treatment. The STDC offers several safeguards for the person. Before granting the certificate, the doctor must consult a mental health officer (MHO) and get her or his agreement. In deciding whether to agree to the certificate, the MHO should speak to the patient in person, unless there is a good reason why they cannot do this. Where possible, the doctor should also consult the patient’s named person, and most recent data shows that named persons are consulted in around half of cases where an STDC is made.

Once an STDC is granted, it can be revoked at any time by the patient’s responsible medical officer if they think it is no longer needed. The patient or the patient’s named person can appeal to the Mental Health Tribunal to have the STDC revoked. Additionally, the patient has a right to support from an independent advocate.

It is the responsibility of local authorities to plan their Mental Health Officer (MHO) workforce, ensuring they have the appropriate levels of staff in place to provide services for their residents. The Scottish Government recognises the invaluable contribution made by this workforce to improving the lives of mental health patients and their friends and families.

The requested information is not held centrally. Consultant assessment panels are convened pursuant to the National Health Service (Appointment of Consultants) (Scotland) Regulations 2009; the process is overseen by the Royal Colleges on behalf of the Scottish Government. Relevant information on the number of panels convened and cancelled in any given year is published in annual reports that are accessible via the Scottish Academy website:

http://www.scottishacademy.org.uk/who.php.

All funding for NHS Boards as set out in the budget agreed by the Scottish Parliament is allocated to NHS Boards accordingly.

Since the integration of health and social care, the Scottish Government has directed that an element of funding within the settlement for NHS Boards is invested in Integration Authorities. This has taken additional support available for Health and Social Care Integration to almost half a billion in 2017-18, and goes towards delivering the Scottish Government’s commitment on the living wage for adult social care workers.

Staffing data on school nurses is published by ISD Scotland and is held at NHS Board level.

Due to a number of changes in the recording and collection of school nursing data, figures published by ISD Scotland are not directly comparable between 1999 and 2017 and have been split accordingly:-

• Information on school nurses from 1999 can be found on the workforce statistics web site at: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Historic-Data/WFE01_HB_REG.xls

• Further information on school nurses from 2007 onwards can be found on the statistics web site at: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2012-11-27/Nursing_and_Midwifery_SIP_S2012.xls?52391154

• Information on school nurses from 2013 onwards can be found on the statistics web site at: https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2016-09-06/Non-Medical_Trend_J2016.xls

• Information on school nurses from September 2015 onwards can be found on the statistics web site at: https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2017-09-05/Nursing_and_Midwifery_SIP_J2017.xls

The Standards of Care for Dementia in Scotland (2011) include the standard that people with dementia have the right to be treated in line with the law. Through implementation of our dementia workforce framework Promoting Excellence, we are continuing to support alternative interventions other than medication to manage stress and distress. The framework also details the knowledge and skills all health and social services staff should aspire to achieve in relation to the role they play in supporting people with a diagnosis of dementia, and their families, and carers. The framework should be used at a personal, service provider and organisational level in a number of ways, and for a range of purposes. Part of that includes understanding that legislation exists to protect the rights of people with dementia and safe guard them against any potential risk or harm. Systems must be in place to ensure that capacity to consent to treatment is considered and that appropriate documentation is in place when required.

Our legislation follows a rights based approach and the Code of Practice which accompanies the Adults with Incapacity Act (2000) explains that the use of covert medication is permissible in certain, limited circumstances e.g. to safeguard the health of an adult who is unable to consent to the treatment in question, where other alternatives have been explored and none are practicable. Practitioners are also referred to guidance documents covering Consent to Treatment and Covert Medication.

I also refer you to the answer to S5W-11345 on 27 September 2017. 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.

Improving care and support for people with dementia and those who care for them has been major ambition of this government. Over the last decade, dementia services have been transformed, with excellent contributions from staff working across health and social care, the public, third and independent sectors. In June 2017 we published Scotland's third National Dementia Strategy maintaining a focus on improving the quality of care for people living with dementia and their families.

A meeting has been set up by Scottish Government officials with Chief Officers and Chief Finance Officers of a number of Integration Joint Boards, along with COSLA, to discuss the implementation of Free Personal Care for under 65's. This meeting is due to take place on Thursday 26 October.

From 1 January 2016 to 1 January 2017, the latest date to which figures are published, a total of 53 calls were made to the Whistleblowing Alert and Advice Lines Services (formerly the NHSScotland Confidential Alert Line). This figure comprises 40 public interest cases (whistleblowing) and 13 private cases (contractual).

Due to the independent and confidential nature of the service, the Scottish Government does not hold a breakdown of the total number of cases by NHS Board. Of the public interest cases, where individuals identify the Board they work for, the Board is advised directly in a format which cannot compromise the identity of the member of staff. This is done on a 6 monthly basis.

Figures are provided in 6 monthly periods then published online at the following link. Please note that the figures until 31 July 2017 will be published shortly.

The National Health and Social Care Workforce Plan will strengthen and harmonise workforce planning practice, take full account of the future demand for safe and high quality services for Scotland’s people and help to more accurately identify and address gaps in supply.

The Plan consists of three distinct Parts:-

• Part 1 focuses on NHSScotland workforce planning and was published on
  28 June 2017.

• Part 2, covering the social care workforce, will be published jointly with COSLA later this year.

• Part 3, covering the workforce in primary care, will be published following the conclusion of GMS contract negotiations.

These important steps will enable different health and social care systems to move together towards publication of a second full Health and Social Care Workforce Plan in 2018 and beyond.

The information requested is not held centrally at this level of detail. Specific local Information may be available from individual NHS Boards.

Information on Administrative Services staff (including support to Clinical staff), broken down by NHS Board, is published by ISD Scotland and is available at the following link:-