Chamber and committees

As I stated in Parliament in May, community hospitals form an integral part of local health-care delivery systems, providing care closer to people’s homes which is personalised, holistic and patient-centred.

In April 2020, following the emergence of the COVID Pandemic all areas developed surge plans. As part of this surge planning Dumfries and Galloway command and control took the decision to temporarily close 4 cottage hospital in-patients facilities to allow for surge. It also allowed the partnership to support more people at home, which we knew was the safest place for their care. Additionally, the partnership opened 18 intermediate care beds in Mountainhall Treatment Centre.

Following the pandemic it is essential that services continue to evolve and develop new ways of working that can keep people safe at home, or in a homely setting for as long as possible. However, decisions regarding the future of local services are best done at a local level, in consultation with the local population who use them.

The Scottish Government does not hold this data. Requests for these data should be sent to Public Health Scotland or direct to Health Boards.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on emergency presentations.

We are committed to reducing emergency diagnoses for cancer and have established three Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDS) across NHS Scotland, with a further two sites announced by the First Minister on 10 October 2022.

RCDS provide primary care with access to a new referral pathway for patients with non-specific symptoms suspicious of cancer. The Clinical Leads for two of the Services are Haematologists, reflecting the role that this new model can play in diagnosing blood cancers including leukaemia earlier.

In addition, the Scottish Government will continue to work closely with primary care clinicians, including the Scottish Primary Care Cancer Group, to identify possible symptoms as early as possible and support appropriate referral via the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer.

Work is underway to develop a new earlier diagnosis vision in Scotland - this will form part of the new cancer strategy, due to publish Spring 2023. Measurements such as emergency presentation data, to track progress and improvements, are being considered.

Scotland is making excellent progress in the winter vaccination programme, when compared to the other UK nations. The latest published figures show that, as at 6 th November, Scotland has provided 87.8% of older adult care home residents and 55.7% of those aged 50 and over with a winter COVID-19 vaccine.

While differences in the way statistics are collected means that the figures are not always directly comparable, England has reported an uptake of 58.0% among older adult care home residents, and 53.5% among those aged 50 and over as at 6 th November.

Scotland’s winter vaccination programme also compares favourably to that of Wales, where, according to the latest data, 80.4% of older adult care home residents and 53.0% of those aged 50 and over have taken up the offer of a winter COVID-19 vaccination.

NHS Scotland Health Boards determine consultant requirements locally, based on their service provision responsibilities and service configuration needs. Scottish Government workforce planning guidance requires Boards to take a demand-led approach by determining future staffing requirements in line with healthcare needs within their locality.

Under this Government, however, the number of Consultant Haematologists working in NHS Scotland has increased by 18.9% or by 15.5 WTE, from 82.1 WTE as at September 2006 to 97.6 WTE as at June 2022.

Future medical workforce needs are considered annually by the Scottish Shape of Training Transition Group (SSoTTG) wherein existing training numbers are reviewed and additional ‘expansion’ posts can be added where there is evidence of increasing future demand for specialist services within a particular discipline. Ministers have created 725 additional training places since 2014 following recommendations made by the SSoTTG, 152 of which were agreed to through the most recent consultation. This represents the largest annual expansion to date. The SSoTTG will review the number of training places in haematology within the upcoming consultation which will take place in 2023.

Furthermore, we are developing a new 10 year Cancer Strategy to launch in Spring 2023 which will take a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment and post-treatment care. This will be supported by a 3-year action plan.

Information on cases of sepsis is only held centrally for people admitted to hospital.

Public Health Scotland publish this information in their Annual Statistical Report on Acute Hospital Activity and NHS Beds Information . This includes data on hospital stays with a diagnosis of sepsis by NHS Board of residence and local authority area at tables 5 and 6.

A clinical refresh of the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer was completed in 2018 with revised clinical guidance published January 2019. The guidelines support primary care clinicians in ensuring those with symptoms suspicious of cancer are put on the right pathway at the right time.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with primary care clinicians across NHS Scotland, including the Scottish Primary Care Cancer Group, to raise awareness of symptoms and best referral practice for all cancer types.

Scotland’s first three Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services are live, providing primary care with a new referral pathway for patients with non-specific symptoms i.e. fatigue, nausea, weight loss – this can often include patients with Haematological cancers. A suite of tests, including blood tests, are undertaken in primary care at the point of referral. The Scottish Government is committed to working towards equitable access to a RCDS across Scotland, for eligible patients.

The right to peaceful assembly and protest is a right that we all have and the Scottish Government wants to encourage the exercise of that right wherever possible. While it is not an absolute right - and conditions and prohibitions can be imposed where required and in the interests of a democratic society - the Scottish Government is clear that it should not be dependent on the ability to pay.

For each march or parade, local authorities and their partners, including Police Scotland and Transport Scotland (where the event is to take place on a trunk road), will consider traffic management issues and the various powers available to the agencies involved to regulate traffic, including Temporary Traffic Regulation Orders (TTROs).

In their report, published on 2 November 2022, the Independent Short-Life Working Group on Facilitating Peaceful Assembly in Scotland has made a range of recommendations including on traffic management issues as they relate to assembly. The Scottish Government will work with partners to consider these recommendations, including those on costs, in due course.

While GP sessions have sometimes been defined for the purposes of various payments, there is no overall contractual definition of GP sessions.

GP contract regulations require practices to ensure provision of services from Monday- Friday, 08:00 - 18.30. It is up to the practice partners to agree how that is covered by GPs and the number and length of sessions.

The Scottish Government believes that the independent contractor model of general practice is the model preferred by most GPs and is committed to maintaining it to ensure general practice remains an attractive profession (the BMA’s “The future of general practice” survey 2015 found that 82% of GPs supported maintaining the status quo).

It is for Health Boards to decide who to contract with to provide primary medical services, making use of such resources as the Health and Care Experience Survey which provides an indication of satisfaction rates across a range of local services, including GP practices, in Scotland as they do so.