Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government values the independent advice of the NHS pay review body. We will take a view at the appropriate time as to whether to continue to access advice from the current body, or whether a Scottish specific body would best serve the needs of Scotland.

NHS 24 staff are employed under the terms of the UK wide Agenda for Change agreement. Agenda for Change allows for all staff working more than 6 hours to be allowed an unpaid rest break during their shift, this is in line with the European Working Time Directive.

NHS 24 advise that their staff will work a range of contracted hours and shifts to ensure the delivery of safe, effective and person centred care. The average number of hours worked across the service is 7.5 hours per day for full time staff and 6 hours per day for part time staff.

NHS 24 have provided the following table which sets out the total overtime hours worked by NHS 24 staff in each year since 2007, and the monthly average for each year:

* In 2009, NHS 24 were involved in the Scottish Government/NHS response to the H1N1 pandemic and operated the Scottish Flu Response Centre which required additional staffing resource.

NHS 24 advise that all frontline staff are provided with a time allocation each month, which varies depending on individual needs, to complete personal development activities including call review and continuing professional development (CPD). Part of this time supports a blended learning approach in CPD delivery for frontline staff through mandatory clinical eLearning and eAssessment modules reflecting the service delivery profile of the organisation.

The current mandatory eLearning or eAssessment modules for nurses, team leaders, pharmacy advisors and clinical service managers are:

Adult Support and Protection

Chest Pain

Child Protection

Meningitis

Recognition of the Acutely ill Adult

Recognition of the Acutely ill Child

All Call Handlers and Mental Health Nurses must complete:

Adult Support and Protection

Child Protection

Successful completion of these core modules are a key component of the organisation’s patient safety and governance programmes. Updated versions of the modules are launched in April of every year.

NHS pay is set with reference to the recommendations of the NHS pay review body (for Agenda for Change staff) and the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body (for doctors and dentists). The Scottish Government values the advice of these UK bodies and would anticipate continuing to make use of either these or equivalent bodies going forward, although no specific discussions have taken place with the UK Government on this issue.

With regard to direct pay bargaining, Scotland already has highly developed NHS partnership arrangements. Any direct negotiation on pay is already taken forward through these structures and this will continue to be the case in the future.

Terms and conditions for social care workers in Scotland are currently a matter for individual employers. We have no plans to change this.

NHS 24 advises that the average talk time per patient is just over thirteen minutes.

This is an operational matter for NHS 24, they have provided the following table which sets out their spend on IT systems in each financial year since 2007-08.

The information sought is not available for the time period requested. However, NHS 24 advises that they have recorded such complaints as formal grievances since January 2010 and the numbers are set out in the following table.

The Scottish Government is given independent advice by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the independent expert advisory group who advise the four UK countries about all aspects of immunisation. The JCVI recently recommended a carefully planned immunisation programme for Meningitis B at 2, 4 and 12 months of age, as part of the primary infant immunisation schedule. The JCVI further advised that a targeted carriage study be undertaken in adolescents to assess the impact of the Bexsero vaccine on the acquisition of meningococcal carriage.

I am delighted that the JCVI has identified the importance of introducing a vaccine against Meningitis B. This disease can be devastating for children and their families and I am very keen that we take the necessary steps to tackle its effects. I welcome the JCVI’s announcement, and officials will be working to ensure that the vaccine can be introduced as quickly as possible into Scotland’s routine childhood immunisation schedule. The first step will be for the Department for Health to begin the process of procuring the vaccine for the four UK countries.

Information on the NHS24 staff complement for each year since 2007, broken down by profession, is available from September 2007 to December 2013, on a quarterly basis from September 2010, at whole time equivalent (WTE) and headcount level. The information is shown in Table 1 (WTE) and Table 2 (headcount).

Table 1 - Whole time equivalent of NHS 24 staff by profession September 2007 to December 2011:

Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS), ISD Scotland

Table 1 (cont) - Whole time equivalent of NHS 24 staff by profession March 2012 to December 2013:

Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS), ISD Scotland

Table 2 - Headcount of NHS 24 staff by profession September 2007 to December 2011

Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS), ISD Scotland

Table 2 (cont)-Headcount of NHS 24 staff by profession March 2012 to December 2013:

Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS), ISD Scotland

Note

1. HCHS is Hospital, community and public health services

Further information on NHS 24 staff in post can be found in the Overall Trend table on the workforce statistics website at http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2014-02-25/Overall_Trend_D2013.xls