Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has ensured that by legislating to require local authorities to offer deferred payment agreements, no-one should have to sell their home during their lifetime to fund the cost of their residential care.

The Scottish Government introduced free personal and nursing care for people aged 65 and over in July 2002. The Local Authority pays for these elements of the residential care for all those assessed as needing them. The current rates are
£171 per week for personal care and this rises to £249 per week if nursing care is also required. The Scottish Government reviews these payment rates on an annual basis.

You may also be aware we have committed to the extension of Free Personal Care to all under 65s who require it regardless of condition, Scottish Ministers have committed that this extension will be in place by 1 April 2019. This will benefit younger people in residential care.

In the current financial year almost half a billion pounds of NHS spending will be invested in social care services, underlining the importance we attach to improving services, and ensuring that people are able to receive care in their own homes or in a homely setting.

In Scotland there are three regional Neonatal Managed Clinical Networks (MCNs), for the West of Scotland (WoS), South East and Tayside (SEAT) and North of Scotland (NoS). The MCNs aim to hold meetings quarterly however this will vary depending on business need.

The aims of the networks are:

• To support the delivery of high quality neonatal care for all their residents

• To ensure that mothers and babies are treated in the right hospital at the right time and by the right staff with the appropriate skills.

• To agree a model of care based on core values where provision of care should be provided as close to home as possible, minimising transport where possible but accepting that some babies may require transfer for intensive care services

• Agree pathways of care and clinical guidelines

• To provide high quality services by addressing key issues such as data collection, capacity, workforce, education and training of staff

• To audit activity and outcomes of neonatal services both across the network and against national statements within Neonatal Care in Scotland: A Quality Framework, published in March 2013 (see link on page)

• To consult with and collaborate with users of the service to enhance the services and their experiences

• Each neonatal MCN to work inter-regionally

The North of Scotland region MCN includes the following Boards:

• Highland

• Grampian,

• Orkney,

• Shetland,

The West of Scotland region MCN includes the following Boards:

• Ayrshire & Arran,

• Dumfries & Galloway,

• Forth Valley,

• Greater Glasgow & Clyde,

• Lanarkshire, and

• Western Isles.

South East and Tayside region MCN includes the following Boards:

• Lothian,

• Tayside,

• Fife,

• Borders

Following recommendations in The Best Start, work is underway to facilitate the transition from three regional MCNs to one national MCN.

The Scottish Government considered advice and views from a wide variety of sources in preparing the consultation document. From within the public sector that included advice from Food Standards Scotland (FSS) and supporting evidence in 3 papers (January 2016, October 2016 and March 2017) which are available on the FSS website http://www.foodstandards.gov.scot/.

The Scottish Government also commissioned Health Scotland to carry out a rapid evidence review, and this was published on the NHS Health Scotland website on 30 October 2017 http://www.healthscotland.scot/publications/rapid-evidence-review-restriction-of-price-promotions.

Further views will be provided as part of the consultation, following which the Scottish Government will as always seek any advice necessary as it shapes its policy and to ensure that any legislation would be within legislative competence when introduced to the parliament.

This information is not held centrally.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-12026 on
1 November 2017. 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 Scottish Government is fully committed to ensuring that all patients have swift access to the full range of services they need from the NHS in Scotland.

The number of consultants with a specialty of clinical radiology working in NHSScotland have increased by 41.9 per cent under this Government, to 317.2 Whole Time Equivalent. We have also increased radiology training places by 20 per cent in the last four years.

Cancer waiting times data for the second quarter of 2017 shows that 94.8% of cancer patients across Scotland received treatment within 31 days of a decision to treat, with the average wait being only 6 days. The Scottish Government are actively engaging NHS Boards where there are challenges to sustained delivery against the 62-day standard.

Our new Ministerial Cancer Performance Delivery Group will focus on driving forward improvements in waiting times for diagnosis and treatment for cancer patients. Backed by an additional £1 million investment to roll-out new technology, this would allow consultants to report on diagnostic scans taken anywhere in the country, helping to address short-falls in capacity in some areas.

We have also invested £4.85m in 2017 to support improvement in diagnostic scopes and imaging capacity for suspected cancer patients.

Furthermore, in September 2017 we announced an additional £3 million to increase the number of radiology trainees in Scotland by at least fifty over the next five years.

Within the NHS there is absolutely no assumption that mothers expecting a disabled child will want to terminate the pregnancy.

The Scottish Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme aims to ensure that women and couples are provided with high quality information so that they can make an informed choice about their screening options and pregnancy choices.

Information on vacancies for consultants with a specialty of clinical radiology is published by ISD Scotland and is available at the following web link:-

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2017-03-07/Consultant_Vacancies_D2016.xls

Information on consultant vacancies outwith NHSScotland is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government is aware of disruptions in the supply chain for some commonly-used generic medicines. This is not a Scotland-only issue, but is experienced across the UK.

The NHS Prescribing Advisers Network routinely monitors and reports weekly on such disruptions across all Health Boards, so that action can be taken locally to advise GPs and other prescribers of clinically appropriate alternatives where this may be necessary to support continuity of care.

(a) i) The Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory (SLDO) are one of the key strategic partners of the Scottish Government and are core funded through the Keys to Life Learning Disabilities strategy. Within their work plan, SLDO has investigated the fall in termination rates in Down syndrome pregnancies in Scotland, the most common additional physical health needs that adults with Down syndrome experience, and the impact of age and gender on these and survival rate of infants and children born with Down syndrome in Scotland, and their health needs/reasons for hospital admissions in childhood/youth compared with people without Down syndrome

There have been no applications for research projects on Down’s Syndrome submitted to, or funded by, the Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office in the last year.

ii) Screening for Down’s Syndrome is the responsibility of local Health Boards. Funding for this forms part of the NHS financial allocation for each Board.

b) Down's Syndrome Scotland (DSS) are one of the key national delivery partners of the Keys to Life, Scotland's national Learning Disabilities strategy. The Scottish Government have provided £225,000 of fund to DSS in 2016-17 and £264,000 in 2017-18. We have invested this money to support core DSS functions as well as for project related activity. Part of this funding has also been used to support DSS in hosting next year's World Down Syndrome Congress, which will take place in Glasgow from 25-27 July 2018.