Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is required to deliver a balanced budget and outturn in each year. This has been consistently delivered through prudent and effective financial management, balancing fiscal constraints with priorities. In July 2021 Scottish Government launched the Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF), which subsumed the Neonatal Expenses Fund (NEF) to create a single unified fund. These funds are demand led and the Scottish Government has ensured full funding against demand in each year since 2018/19.

The new model will see Scotland moving to a networked model of three neonatal intensive care units (NICU) working alongside local neonatal units (LNU) and special care units (SCU), supported by transitional care and community care services. This aligns with existing service models across the UK.

The transfer and repatriation of mother and babies is a normal component of neonatal care provision in Scotland, ensuring babies receive the most appropriate care at the correct time.

In order to support health boards to move forward with detailed implementation planning, the Scottish Government will commission healthcare planning expertise to undertake national capacity and modelling work.

We will now work with all Health Boards affected to plan for and implement this service change over the course of the next year, informed by the testing that has been underway over the last few years.

We will continue to provide funding to these Health Boards to help transition to the new model.

Evidence shows that the very smallest and sickest babies, including those born extremely premature (below 27 weeks), do best when they are cared for in larger specialist neonatal units which look after a lot of these babies, and have the right staff and services available on site to give them the very best care. The Best Start report recommended that we move to three of these units in Scotland, to meet the needs of our population, and neonatal experts then went through a rigorous process to decide on the three NICUs of the ERI in Edinburgh, the RHC in Glasgow, and the Aberdeen Maternity Hospital.

The Best Start emphasises parents as key partners in caring for their baby and aims to keep mothers and babies, and families together as much as possible in the crucial early weeks, with services designed around them. We have a number of measures already in place to support families with babies in neonatal care:

• Providing accommodation for parents to stay on or near neonatal units and facilities within the unit to encourage kangaroo skin to skin care and early support for breastfeeding;
• Roll out of the Young Patients Family Fund (formerly the Neonatal Expenses Fund) to support all families with the costs of travel, accommodation and food whilst their baby is in neonatal care; and
• Repatriating babies to their local neonatal units as soon as clinically possible

As part of the next phase, Scottish Government will be consulting with families in the affected areas on implementation of the proposals, so that we can take account of their concerns when the pathways and processes for the new model of care are designed.

This will affect a very small number of families however it is important that we hear the voices of those families to input into design of service delivery.

The Scottish Government has no plans to review the Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) in light of the plans to reduce the number of level 3 neonatal units in Scotland. The cost of visiting a child or young person in hospital should not be a barrier for families which is why parents/carers and siblings (under 18) can claim under YPFF, regardless which neonatal unit their baby is being cared for in. The fund helps to offset the cost of: travelling to and from hospital during a child or young person’s inpatient stay; the subsistence required to allow claimants to spend time at the hospital; and any accommodation required by eligible visitors. There are no restrictions on the number of claims an eligible visitor can make.

The Neonatal Expenses Fund (NEF) ran from April 2018 to July 2021. The Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) was launched on 26 July 2021 and the new fund subsumed the NEF to create a single unified fund.

Part (a) With regard to the budget to date for NEF/YPFF I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18481 on 14 June 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Part (b)

The Scottish Government asks NHS Boards to report on the number of travel claims, accommodation claims and meals reimbursed. The data held by the Scottish Government, as reported by NHS Boards, is set out in the following table.

The Scottish Government has not routinely published expenditure for The Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) as Health Boards have, up to now, been developing mechanisms to ensure the recording of full and accurate YPFF data.

We are continuing to work with NHS Boards to ensure the comprehensive recording of data and we will aim to publish YPFF data routinely following the conclusion of that work.

Following the testing period the Early Implementer Boards noted that no negative feedback was received from families about the process. However, due to only a small number of babies being transferred this made it difficult to achieve the depth of parent feedback hoped for.

In order to capture parent representation in the Options Appraisal and Best Start Programme Board decision making process, the Chief Executive of Bliss sits on our Best Start Programme Board and was a participant in the options appraisal process, representing the views of neonatal families.

As part of the next phase, Scottish Government will be consulting with families in the affected areas on implementation of the proposals, so that we can take account of their concerns when the pathways and processes for the new model of care are designed. This will affect a very small number of families however it is important that we hear the voices of those families to input into design of service delivery.

The Best Start emphasises parents as key partners in caring for their baby and aims to keep mothers and babies, and families together as much as possible in the crucial early weeks, with services designed around them. We have a number of measures already in place to support families with babies in neonatal care:

• Providing accommodation for parents to stay on or near neonatal units and facilities within the unit to encourage kangaroo skin to skin care and early support for breastfeeding;
• Roll out of the Young Patients Family Fund (formerly the Neonatal Expenses Fund) to support families with the costs of travel, accommodation and food whilst their baby is in neonatal care; and
• Repatriating babies to their local neonatal units as soon as clinically possible

Neonatal units have agreed to continue to seek parent feedback to ensure opportunities to improve the experiences of families are identified on an ongoing basis.

Councils are responsible for developing their licensing policies in line with powers and duties under The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022, as amended in 2023, and they can add proportionate conditions to address local needs and concerns. We continue to work closely with COSLA, SOLAR and licensing authorities on the implementation and monitoring of the short term lets licensing legislation. We are therefore aware that the City of Edinburgh Council has acted on the Judgement made on 8 June 2023 to revise its local licensing policy and information for applicants. We remain confident that licensing of short-term lets can be operated effectively by councils so as to respect the rights of hosts and guests in short-term let accommodation, and is appropriate for the whole of Scotland.

A breakdown of the unsuccessful applications for the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund between August 2020 and May 2023 are given in the following table: