Chamber and committees

The running costs for the NHS Scotland Confidential Alert Line (NCAL) pilot (2 April 2013 to 31 July 2014) were £18,666. The running costs for the period 1 August 2014 to 31 July 2016 were £31,600.

Public Concern at Work, the charity that provides the NCAL service were awarded £120,660 in total from 2 April 2013 to 31 July 2016 to cover a range of services including whistleblowing training for NHS Sotland staff, reporting, communication and running costs of the NCAL.

The Scottish Government is working closely with NHS Lothian to ensure that the delay in the construction of the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh is kept to a minimum.

NHS Lothian had prepared a comprehensive and well developed commissioning and migration plan for the transfer of services from existing facilities based on the contractual handover date to the Board. This is now subject to review on receipt of a revised handover date from the Project Company. While it is disappointing not to be moving from existing facilities as previously anticipated, NHS Lothian recognise the cause of the delay and will respond in a positive manner to a revised programme demonstrating that neither health and safety, nor quality will be compromised in its delivery.

The hiring of new contractors is the responsibility of the consortium building the new facilities and they have a number of contingency plans in place to deal with the delay. This includes actions such as keeping a dialogue open with other sub-contractors who had bid for the original contract, dialogue with suppliers of the sub-contractors so they can take over supply of material and or labour if necessary and constant interaction with the workforce so they have the ability to hire personnel in the short term.

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government has taken forward a range of actions through Changing Scotland's Relationship with Alcohol: A Framework for Action. This includes improved substance misuse education in schools through Curriculum for Excellence and improved identification of, and support for, children affected by parental substance misuse. Also, support for diversionary activities for young people and guidance for parents and carers about young people and alcohol.

In addition the Alcohol etc. (Scotland) Act 2010 imposed a mandatory condition onto licences to have an age verification policy (Challenge 25) to make it harder for under-age drinkers to gain access to alcohol and the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 will make it an offence to give alcohol to children or young people in a public place helping the Police to address the scourge of drinking dens.

The main contractors in infrastructure projects are required to submit a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) to ensure that only eligible bidders with the requisite financial and technical capacity and capability are invited to proceed to the tendering stage. In respect of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children project, a minimum financial standing was set for each applicant’s construction contractor and each of the three consortia bidding for the contract met that requirement.

It should be recognised that the Royal Hospital for Sick Children is a Non Profit Distribution (NPD) project, where a fundamental feature is that an element of risk is transferred to the Project Company and that their Rate of Return reflects this transfer. Sub-contractors are managed by the main Project Company as per the agreed contract and while the two sub-contractors that went into administration has resulted in a delay to the project, the new construction timetable will not result in any additional costs to NHS Lothian.

The Scottish Government published the Waste Prevention and Re-use Guide which provides practical advice and guidance on implementing effective waste prevention systems within NHS facilities and includes guidance on clinical waste. It is aimed at hospital and healthcare staff including senior management, waste management officers, sustainability officers and any others interested in promoting resource efficiency in a healthcare environment.

Data on the number of Patient Hygiene Inspectors in NHS Scotland is not collated or held centrally by the Scottish Government or NHS National Services Scotland.

Information on staff outsourced from private companies is not centrally held.

The Scottish Government expects every public body to deliver efficiency savings of at least 3 per cent per annum. NHS Health Boards have achieved this level, and delivered efficiency savings in 2015-16 in excess of £290 million. This has been reinvested by the Health Boards in frontline services.

NHS Boards achieve efficiency savings in a wide range of areas, including those set out in NHS Scotland Efficiency and Productivity: Framework for SR10: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2011/02/11144220/12. The Framework requires savings to be made through, amongst other means, reductions in senior management, better workforce productivity, and increased use of shared services.

Information on the number of new outpatient appointments and the number of Did Not Attends and the rate since 1999 to 2015 is provided in the following table.

It is every patient's responsibility to keep their NHS appointment and it is important that they let the hospital know when they cannot attend. However, we also recognise that the NHS has to be flexible in helping make appointments convenient to patients.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting health boards implement policies to reduce missed appointments such as providing reminder services through text, emails and social media. This will allow reminder services to be tailored for patients who are most likely not to attend.

Source: SMR00 ISD Scotland