Chamber and committees

The Case Record Review is underway. Introductory interviews with the participants are close to completion. More than half of the participants have received an ‘information gathering’ form from the Administrator. Following return of this form, Clinco, a commissioned contractor involved in the retrieval of patient records, will request the appropriate case records from Health Boards. This process is already underway for a number of participants.

As is standard practice, data sharing agreements are required for the release of medical records. Agreements are in place already for a number of Health Boards and it is expected that agreements will be in place in relation to all relevant Boards shortly.

Health Board Accountable Officers have been kept abreast of developments with the Case Record Review through the Short Life Working Group on mesh complications.

The requested level of data on individuals who Do Not Attend (DNA) vaccination appointments is not currently held. While we can show the number of people who did not attend a scheduled appointment, or who have cancelled or rescheduled, we don’t know all the reasons why they may have done so.

The Public Health Scotland COVID-19 Statistical Report published on 16 June 2021 contains information on DNAs from 1 Feb to 6 June 20201.

The requested information is not centrally held. NHS Education for Scotland publish annual data on joiners/leavers, but this information is not available by reason or destination.

Information on joiners/leavers by staff group for each financial year can be found on the following link:

https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/media/tnvdmmwd/turnover_m2021_updated.xlsx

The Scottish Government encourages essential workers, along with the wider adult population and secondary school-aged pupils, to participate in regular asymptomatic testing irrespective of their vaccination status.

The Scottish Government’s asymptomatic workplace testing programmes provide free test kits to a wide range of public, private and third-sector businesses and organisations. Different testing regimens are employed as appropriate to the setting. Most workplaces offering regular asymptomatic testing use twice-weekly testing with lateral flow devices. Weekly polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing is offered to specific cohorts of staff, including Scottish Prison Service staff and health and social care staff working with clinically vulnerable patients.

As of 12 October 2021, 36 projects have been awarded funding through the Green Jobs Fund (GJF). This amounts to £8,944,969 of funding across 18 different local authority areas. The total number of jobs to be created from this first allocation of funding is expected to be 517.8 FTE. A second GJF funding allocation round will take place later this year.

The following table shows the breakdown of current awards by local authority, detailing the amounts awarded, the number of awards made and the number of jobs expected to be created in each local authority as a result of the funding allocated.

We introduced the scheme on 1 October 2021, at which point all people aged 18 or over had had the opportunity to be fully vaccinated. In addition we gave a month’s notice of the intention to bring the scheme into place. We recognise there may be a small number of people who caught Covid during this period and whose second vaccination has therefore had to be delayed. Those people will be able to obtain a vaccine certificate once they have been fully vaccinated.

While elective surgery has not halted in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, there have been reductions in the number of elective surgeries being carried out in order to focus on cancer and other urgent cases.

The scale-down of elective routine surgery is under weekly review, and an increase in sessions is planned from week beginning 18 October; however, this will be dependent on staffing levels and COVID patient numbers.

The Scottish Government advises anyone who has experienced domestic abuse to report crimes committed against them. Domestic abuse is a heinous crime and we remain absolutely committed to working with justice partners to ensure that they have the most effective tools at their disposal to ensure that perpetrators receive a robust response and are held to account for their actions.

The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 (the ‘Act’) came into effect in April 2019 and provides the police with additional powers to take action against those who abuse their partner or ex-partner. As highlighted in the publication, in 2020-21, 1,581 charges were reported under the Act, with 95 percent resulting in court proceedings being raised.

Lastly, as part of the Programme for Government, we will invest £100 million over the next three years to support frontline services so that women and children can safely access the support they need and to focus on prevention of violence against women and girls from school onwards.

The requested information is not centrally held. NHS Education for Scotland publish annual data on joiners/leavers, but this information is not available by reason or destination.

Information on joiners/leavers by staff group for each financial year can be found on the following link:

https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/media/tnvdmmwd/turnover_m2021_updated.xlsx

Officials meet with NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde’s (NHS GG&C) Cancer Team on a weekly basis to ensure every urgent suspicion of cancer (USC) patient is moving timeously through their pathway. These discussions are based on management information, not in the public domain.

The majority of cancer treatments have continued throughout the pandemic. Where changes have been made to a patient’s treatment plan, due to COVID, the decision is made jointly with the clinical team and patient.

NHS GG&C treated 97.1% of cancer patients within 31 days of a decision to treat being made in Q2 2021. Latest statistics are available via:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancer-waiting-times/cancer-waiting-times-1-april-to-30-june-2021/