Chamber and committees

Since 1999 the data on the community nursing staff categories, including district nurses, has been subject to a number of reviews.

The number of district nurses by NHS Board, from September 1996 to September 2005,

can be found on the workforce statistics web site:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Historic-Data/WFE01_HB_REG.xls.

In 2006, recording of NHS staff was moved from Whitley to Agenda for Change. As a result statistics presented from 2007 onwards are not directly comparable to information prior to 2006. Information for 2006 is not available as this was a transitional year.

The number of district nurses by NHS Board, from September 2007 to September 2014, can be

found on the workforce statistics web site:

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2017-09-05/Non-Medical_Trend_J2017.xls.

A review of the data on community nursing staff categories, including district nurses, was undertaken in 2014 to ensure more accurate and consistent reporting for these staff groups. Data prior to the completion of the review is not comparable with data from 2015 onwards.

The number of district nurses by NHS Board, from March 2015 to June 2017, can be found on the workforce statistics web site:

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2017-09-05/Nursing_and_Midwifery_SIP_J2017.xls.

The Scottish Government does not hold this data.

We are aware of a number of different approaches to supporting young carers in schools across Scotland. This includes dedicated young carer workers from the third sector working across a number of schools in an area.

The Scottish Government is working to support young carers to continue with their education in school, college or in university and not to lose out due to the demands of their caring role. Under the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 every young carer will be offered or will be able to request a young carer statement from 1 April 2018. The young carer statement will set out each young carer’s personal outcomes so that their eligible needs are supported to enable them to continue to care, if they so wish, and have a life alongside caring.

Information on the median wait and maximum wait from the date of urgent referral with a suspicion of cancer to date of first treatment by board of receipt and calendar year is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre - Bib number 59336.

Data held centrally is only available in the requested format from 2010 onwards.

Information on whether every pupil is able to access water when at school is not held centrally. The Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2008 require schools to provide access to fresh, plain drinking water at all times. It is for local authorities to ensure they are fulfilling their duties as set out in the Regulations.

One of the key principles of the Vaccination Transformation Programme will be to implement new models of delivery that do not adversely impact on uptake rates. While GPs will no longer be responsible for the delivery of vaccinations, it is likely that general practice premises will still be used to deliver vaccinations allowing opportunistic immunisation to continue. Different delivery options and a changing NHS and public health landscape may also provide opportunities and benefits which are not possible within current arrangements. At present local variation in uptake of the flu vaccine across GP practices is monitored closely and appropriate interventions applied to improve uptake. New Primary Care clusters will work closely with HSCPs and make use of intelligence and data to continue monitoring uptake in their areas and provide support as necessary.

The Vaccination Transformation Programme will not mandate how Health Boards will deliver vaccinations in their area. Rather the programme will support Health Boards in implementing local delivery solutions that best suit them, their patients, and their geography. The solutions developed may involve establishing immunisation teams, contracting local GPs, or a combination thereof. As service providers, the local Health Board will ensure that the service they design provides best value for money.

This information is not readily available from National Services Scotland prescription data systems.

Scottish Government officials are working closely 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.

There has been a new webpage added to the Scottish Government website http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Health/Support-Social-Care/Support/Adult-Social-Care/Free-Personal-Nursing-Care/Implementation-free-personal-care-under65 which will provide updates on the implementation of the extension to Free Personal Care to under 65's.

Immediately following the Programme for Government announcement on 5 September, we have said that the extension of free personal care will be in place by 1 April 2019.

The extension of free personal care to people under the age of 65 will benefit around 9000 people. We are working with local authorities on preparing for the implementation of the extension of Free Personal Care to under 65s by April 2019. This will involve local authorities assessing people’s needs, and where necessary, conducting financial assessments.

Hepatitis C (HCV) prevention remains a priority for the Scottish Government as set out in our Sexual Health and Bloodborne Virus Strategy. All NHS Boards and partners continue to work to prevent new infections, promoting best practice in relation to HCV prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

Monitoring the impact of our investment in prevention and treatment strategies on the incidence of infection remains a challenge as new infection incidents are difficult to measure directly, given that the infection can be asymptomatic and undiagnosed. However, there is evidence to suggest that the prevalence of injecting drug use in Scotland has decreased in recent years, which indicates that the overall number of HCV infections in people who inject drugs is likely to have decreased. In Scotland, HCV is mainly transmitted among injecting drug users.