Chamber and committees

As outlined in Every Child, Every Chance: The Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, we will begin roll-out of a financial health check for families on low income in 2018. We are currently considering options for the design and delivery of this work alongside how to build on the pilot financial health check service for older people delivered in November 2017.

We are currently considering options for the roll-out of the financial health check. Any procurement process we undertake will adhere to the Scottish Government Procurement Policy Manual: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2006/05/spdpolicymanual .

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-16452 on 22 May 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 new Social Security Scotland service will provide people with the information and advice they need for the benefits it will be responsible for. This includes staff being available locally to meet with people and help them complete their applications and provide advice on their payments. These staff will have a presence in every local authority area and work in existing premises and alongside colleagues in health and social care services including links workers, local authorities and the third sector. This will help free up the time of professionals, such as clinical and non-clinical staff, who are involved in helping patients with welfare related issues to concentrate on supporting people in their capacity of medical experts.

The GP Contract accounts increases the role of the multidisciplinary team in and around GP Practices in order to free up GPs to spend more time with patients who need their skills most. It is supported by a Memorandum of Understanding between the Scottish Government, the BMA, Health Boards and Integrated Authorities. This sets out the principles and priorities for services to be locally redesigned where it is safe, sustainable and improves care for patients to do so. Services for priority delivery over the next three years includes providing community links workers to support GP practices or groups of practices. Health Boards and Integrated authorities are developing Primary Care Improvement Plans that will set out how Integration Authorities will deliver these services locally.

Scottish Government Officials are in regular contact with NHS Lanarkshire, as with all Health Boards, on out of hours issues through a variety of channels, e.g. through attendance at the National Out of Hours Operations Group or when gathering information on OOH cover over the Festive and Easter period or in response to specific intelligence. With regard to this specific issue we have liaised with NHS Lanarkshire who have provided reassurance that when OOH services have been forced to close the Airdrie site and operate from the Douglas St Clinic in Hamilton, they have managed to cope with demand, and where necessary provide additional transport for those patients who have difficulty getting to Hamilton.

This is an operational matter for NHS Lanarkshire however I would expect all NHS Boards and their delivery partners to engage locally regarding any service changes.

This is an operational matter for NHS Lanarkshire.

This is an operational matter for NHS Lanarkshire.

This is an operational matter for NHS Lanarkshire.

The latest official data for Out of Hours Primary Care Services in Scotland was published by ISD on 27 February 2018. Whilst the Healthcare Improvement Scotland Quality Indicators for primary care out-of-hours services do not permit this level of detail to be assessed.