Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of people reported missing from NHS hospitals or other healthcare settings, as there is no specific variable within Public Health Scotland’s data to highlight where a patient is reported missing.

Some information is available from Police Scotland on incidents of a person going missing from the NHS (covering those cases that were reported to the police). This is provided in the following table. The data is drawn from the Missing Person’s Database and is available on a consistent basis from April 2019 onwards. The figures relate to a count of incidents (and their associated investigations) rather than a count of people going missing. As such, the same person may appear multiple times within any year if they have been reported missing on more than one occasion during that period.

It should also be noted that the data covers all NHS grounds and not just hospitals.

Missing Person Investigations, “Missing From The NHS”, Police Scotland

This report was funded by The Promise Partnership, of which the Scottish Government is the principal funder. The Scottish Government recognises that it raises important issues about how children and young people are supported to enforce their rights, and welcomes that Clan ChildLaw commissioned this work. Many of the report’s findings align with The Promise, particularly that Scotland must consider the creation of an accredited legal specialism to set standards for legal professionals representing children.

Through legal aid, children and young people can access legal support for a wide range of matters including children’s hearings, criminal proceedings and to resolve civil disputes. The Legal Aid Fund pays for legal advice and representation, but it is not designed to fund wider support needs. The young people’s statements of their ideal legal services, as captured by the report, extend beyond the traditional model of service delivery by law firms, and the scope of the current legal aid system.

As the report has highlighted, “There may be a need for the development of initiatives, partnerships and funding bids focused on specific issues and needs” and officials will continue to engage on how to best to support such work.

The 2021 Digital Health and Care strategy aims to make the right information available to all appropriate staff, when and where it is needed, building on the existing use of electronic patient record systems used by all Health Boards and GP practices. Whilst our strategy is for all health records to be held electronically, this will not result in a single, discrete electronic patient record that maintains all of the data from all of the health and care systems in Scotland in a single platform. Rather the focus is on allowing medical records to be stored, linked and shared securely according to the information needed. To achieve this most Health Boards have a Clinical Portal. This system works across organisational, regional and national boundaries to provide a timely transfer of information.

Clinical portals are in place across Scotland within acute services and provide access to multiple specialist clinical systems, supporting the better transfer of information between Health Boards and within services. Currently, Clinical Portals cover the West of Scotland Boards, the East of Scotland boards and the North of Scotland Boards are in the process of implementing their Clinical Portal. Further key national developments are also underway that we expect to further improve data sharing. The National Digital Platform has improved our digital health and care infrastructure, supported the development of key digital platforms for the covid-19 response and will now look to focus on linking different sources of data where that offers value. The significant investment in new GP IT system rollout is also underway to provide modern, secure GP IT systems which will support evolving models of care.

The key developments to improve the sharing of information within Health Boards is the GPIT Programme, the National Digital Platform, TRAK Care and Clinical Portal. The total funding provided for these key developments to improve data sharing this financial year is £3.743 million.

We are due to publish a Digital Health and Care Strategy Delivery Plan in the coming weeks that will be available to all Parliamentary Members. Additionally, we will also publish the first ever Data Strategy for Health and Care in early 2023, which will further set out our ambition for ensuring the right data is available to the right professionals at the right time.

The Scottish Government regularly discusses the quality of GP services with clinical and management leads for NHS boards.

There are no plans at this time to carry out a full review of the Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) however the Scottish Government has recently liaised with all Health Boards to discuss the implementation of the fund following its first full year of operation. Health Boards also routinely provide data on uptake to support the Scottish Government monitoring processes.

Those claiming under the YPFF are not required to specify the diagnosis of the young inpatient when making a claim. Therefore the Scottish Government does not propose to use YPFF monitoring or evaluation work to inform our support for young cancer patients and their families.

With respect to what further support is needed to support young cancer patients and their families, I refer the member to S6W-11449 on 4 November 2022.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Scotland’s Digital Health and Care Strategy was published in April 2018 and refreshed in October 2021 supersedes the eHealth strategy 2014-2017. The Digital Health and Care Strategy embraces the aims and progress as previously set out but incorporates a broader and more collaborative aim for digital transformation across Health and Care.

A copy of the 2021 Digital Health and Care Strategy can be found on the Scottish Government website Digital health and care strategy - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Scottish Government expects GPs to provide face to face appointments where clinically required within a timescale determined by the need of the patient.

The works to resurface the A9 around the A822/A923 junction at Dunkeld were completed in late 2021, including changes to road markings to prohibit overtaking through the junction. Illuminated road studs were also installed as part of these works to provide better definition of the junctions during darkness. Solar powered illuminated bollards were also installed at five junctions between the B867 and Dalguise.

In advance of future dualling works Transport Scotland is currently considering further short-term improvements for the A9 between Perth and Inverness, which includes the Birnam and Dunkeld junctions. Officials met with community representatives from the area on 31 October to discuss road safety performance and the scope for short term improvements.

Those aged between 18 – 25 years old continue to have access to the Patient Travel Expenses Scheme or the Highlands and Islands Travel Scheme, both of which provide eligible claimants with support to meet travel costs associated with outpatient appointments.

Further to this, the introduction of the Improving the Cancer Journey scheme provides all adults diagnosed with cancer with the opportunity to be referred to a link officer under the joint partnership. The link officer will complete a Holistic Needs Assessment and will generate a care plan to meet the needs identified. This programme is the first of its kind in the UK. It looks to ensure that every cancer patient who can access emotional, financial and practical support. Local community assets can at this stage be identified and utilised to support the service user in meeting their needs.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11684 on‎ 4 November 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers