Chamber and committees

Health and Social Care Assurance Board (HSCAB) last met on‎ 8 November 2023. At this meeting, the Co-Director of Social Care and NCS Development, provided an update on the progress of the National Care Service.

The last meeting of the Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce was held on the 6 December 2023 and was chaired by myself. The next meeting is scheduled for the 13 March 2024.

The Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) was introduced in 1997. Over the course of this period, areas of NHS Dumfries and Galloway included within the scheme have varied depending on the access to NHS dental services at a particular time.

The whole NHS Dumfries and Galloway Board area was added for inclusion to the scheme from 20 December 2021.

The Scottish Workforce and Staff Governance Committee last met on 24 January 2024.

Meeting minutes will be published once agreed. These will be available to view at Scottish Workforce & Staff Governance (SWAG) Committee Agenda and Minutes — NHS Scotland Staff Governance

From Jan 2020 to Jan 2024, over £6 million has been paid in grants to smaller businesses through the LEZ Support Fund.

This funding has resulted in over 1,000 high polluting vehicles being taken off our roads, and over 400 taxis retrofitted to become LEZ compliant.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is not planning to review the European Water Framework Directive.

The Water Framework Directive is implemented in Scotland by the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 and the Water Environment (River Basin Management Planning: Further Provision) (Scotland) Regulations 2013. Any review of this legislation would be carried out by the Scottish Government.

Through the Water Framework Directive’s River Basin Management Planning process we continue to protect and improve the water environment in order to ensure the health and wellbeing of Scotland’s rivers, lochs and coastal waters.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on how many people have accessed earwax removal services. Health Boards are responsible for the delivery of primary medical services in their areas.

Formerly most ear wax management procedures were carried out in GP practices. The new GP contract, introduced in 2018, committed Health Boards to set up Community Treatment and Care (CTAC) services to shift workload away from GP practices to NHS Board employed staff so that GP practices could focus on what only they can do. The Scottish Government has confirmed to Health Boards that CTAC services should cover ear wax management generally.

We are supporting the development of CTAC services through the Primary Care Improvement Fund (£190 million in 2023-24).

We are now also introducing an additional ‘phased investment programme’ working with a small number of areas to demonstrate what model CTAC and other related services can look like in practice. The findings from this programme will build understanding of the national context for further implementation and inform future long-term Scottish Government investment.

NHS 24 ensures that mental health calls are correctly triaged through training, support for frontline staff and ongoing oversight and review of calls and processes.

All new staff undertake a robust four-week induction training programme, and Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners and Mental Health Nurse Practitioners are trained to conduct specialised mental health assessments to ensure that patients are triaged appropriately.

All frontline staff undertake monthly clinical and line management supervision with Senior Charge Nurses, and are continuously supported to improve their knowledge and adhere to organisational processes and clinical governance guidelines. Clinical outcomes are reviewed monthly to identify any changes in referral patterns, and any significant variations are investigated and reviewed by NHS 24.

The NCS COM reference group last met on the 19 May 2022. The meeting was a workshop focused on review of the current system and potential options for future systems. Consideration was given at this meeting to the potential approaches for the structure of the NCS.

The first official meeting of the Flow Navigation Special Delivery Group was held on 4 October 2023. The group meet monthly with 4 meetings having taken place since its formation.

The group is led by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery and consists of clinical and operational leads, for Flow Navigation Centre’s, from each mainland Health Board. It also includes representatives from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, the Royal Collage of General Practitioners, Primary Care, NHS 24, the Scottish Ambulance Service and the Scottish Government.