Chamber and committees

Prior to April 2014, the National Chronic Pain Steering Group (NCPSG) was operated by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS). The information requested for that period is not held centrally. The NCPSG also ended in November 2014, when it was renamed the National Chronic Pain Improvement Group (NCPIG).

During the period it was directly supported by the Scottish Government, the NCPSG held a total of two meetings. However, the costs for these meetings (venue hire, catering, videoconference facilities, etc.) were covered by NHS Dumfries & Galloway (NHS D&G) from an annual allocation granted by the Scottish Government to cover several items and work associated with the group. This included protected time for the NCPSG Chair (an NHS D&G employee), protected staff time for admin support and covering meeting costs. The allocation for the 2014-15 financial year was £13,073, but only a percentage of this is applicable to the NCPSG as the group was renamed. The rest of this allocation applies to the NCPIG, and I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-01880 on 7 September 2016. 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. A specific breakdown of the £13,073 between the NCPSG and NCPIG, as well as individual meeting costs, is not available centrally.

It is important to note that the NCPSG did not have its own budget during the period it was directly supported by the Scottish Government. The NCPSG did not have any salaried employees, with policy support being provided by Scottish Government officials as part of their duties and other posts being held by NHS D&G staff, as outlined above.

Finally, travel expenses for the NCPSG during this period were only offered to patient members, and I understand that no claims were made. Any such expenses incurred by group members from the NHS, the third sector, the Scottish Government or the national officers (National Lead Clinician for Chronic Pain and National Chronic Pain Co-ordinator) would be covered by their own organisations as part of their wider operational costs.

We are committed to ensuring that people who have had a stroke have access to the best possible care as quickly as possible. Our Stroke Improvement Plan published in 2014; http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2014/08/9114 continues to support the FAST (Face, Arm, Speech, Time) test in Scotland. The FAST test aims to raise public awareness of the signs and symptoms of stroke to encourage people to dial 999 if they think someone is having a stroke. Further details can be found at; http://www.thinkfast.org.uk/.

The Stroke Improvement Plan, published in 2014 also reaffirms our commitment to improve stroke treatment and care in Scotland. The plan is underpinned by a commitment to improving data collection and the Scottish Government continues to fund the Scottish Stroke Care Audit (SSCA), carried out annually by Information Services Division. The Scottish Government provided funding for the SSCA of £167,000 in 2015-16 and is a key focus for raising awareness of stroke as well as driving improvements in stroke care, prevention, skills and knowledge across the whole of Scotland; http://www.strokeaudit.scot.nhs.uk/Publications/Main.html.

Data on the citizenship of employees of NHSScotland is not collated or held centrally.

Further information on the statistics, including information on how the data are collected and notes to aid interpretation, is given in the 'FAQs' section of the Workforce Statistics website at http://www.isdscotland.org/workforce/

Data on the nation of origin of employees of NHS Scotland is not collated or held centrally.

Further information on NHSScotland statistics, including information on how the data are collected and notes to aid interpretation, is given in the 'FAQs' section of the Workforce Statistics website at:- http://www.isdscotland.org/workforce/

Local Delivery Plans (LDP) form the performance contract between the Scottish Government and NHS Boards. LDP standards are priorities that are reviewed and agreed between the Scottish Government and NHS Boards each year. The current standards are available at http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Health/Quality-Improvement-Performance/NHS-Performance-Targets

The Scottish Government has ensured opportunities for engagement, particularly as part of a wider debate on the future of general practice, and are grateful for the contribution that the Royal College General Practitioners has already made and look forward to continuing to engage with them, as well as with other stakeholders who share our common desire to further improve the quality of primary care services for the benefit of patients.The profession's representative body for contract negotiations is the Scottish General Practitioners Committee of the British Medical Association, however there is a shared commitment around the future vision for the delivery of primary care services, and the Scottish Government fully recognises the important contribution of all key stakeholders in taking this agenda forward.

The Scottish Government has committed to increasing the number of training places for Doctors, Nurses and Midwives and Paramedics across the NHS in Scotland. This includes an extra 50 places which have been allocated to Scottish medical schools for new entrants from 2016 onwards which will result in an additional 250 medical trainees created by 2020-21.100 new GP training places will be advertised in a further recruitment round opening at the end of July. This will take the total number of GP training posts advertised across Scotland in 2016 to 439, an increase of 134 on 2015, and beyond the First Minister’s commitment to increase the numbers to 400. Trainees will start in these posts in February 2017.The Scottish Government has committed to providing an extra 1,000 new Nursing and Midwifery training places in addition to the commitment to train 500 additional Advanced Nurse Practitioners. A proportion of these Advanced Nurse Practitioners will be existing staff along with new posts. The numbers will be confirmed when NHS Boards undertake service and training needs analysis.In addition, the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) will train 1,000 new paramedics over the next five years, enhancing the clinical skill mix of staff and introducing new ways of working to better meet the needs of patients in all communities. As part of the “Towards 2020: Taking Care to the Patient” strategy, the Scottish Government has invested £5m in SAS for 2016-17. This investment will allow these new paramedics to be recruited from the current cohort of ambulance technicians, supported by the recruitment and training of 200 new technicians to backfill those posts.

It is intended that a grant scheme for research proposals to address Scottish Government policy priorities be introduced by the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office by the end of 2016.

Details of the Scottish Budget are available online at the following address: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/Finance/18127/Documents. Information specific to Health Research can be found in the supporting information of the published support documents.