Chamber and committees

The flu vaccination and covid vaccination is a joint programme in Scotland, eligible citizens are offered both vaccinations at a single appointment. Staff can therefore not be delineated by vaccination type. Management information indicates that during the period 17 – 23 Nov c. 1,470 whole time equivalent (WTE) vaccinators were deployed by Health Boards (1 x WTE = 37.5 hours per week); staffing deployment on the programme is kept under active review Head count will be significantly higher as vaccinations staff work a variety of different working patterns, in line with local needs and clinic opening hours. This figure does not include administration and support staff which varies by both Health Board setting and clinic type.

The Scottish Government is continuing to work with the operational and clinical teams in NHS Dumfries and Galloway to support the remobilisation of all services, including surgery for orthopaedic patients.

Whilst local capacity for surgery has been reduced, due to ongoing pressures, the Board have utilised orthopaedic capacity at Golden Jubilee National Hospital for a mix of routine long waiting patients and urgent patients.

To support the system as a whole we published our NHS Recovery Plan, which is backed by more than £1 billion of investment, sets out how we will take forward our aim of increasing NHS capacity by at least 10% in order to address the backlog of care and meet the ongoing healthcare needs of the country.

We must make sure our decisions on all of the COVID protection measures are necessary, proportionate and targeted in delivering our four harms approach to alleviating the direct harms of COVID-19, the indirect health harms, and the social and economic harms. We continue to take and review decisions based on the latest evidence from clinical and scientific literature, from public opinion, and from international experience.

Our review process includes regular engagement with businesses about the protection measures which will help us to break the chains of transmission, and that is set out in the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment.

The Scottish Government provides baseline funding to NHS Boards and it is for Boards to determine how to use this funding to meet the healthcare needs of their resident population.

In 2021-22, Health funding exceeds £16 billion with £11.6 billion allocated to our frontline Health Boards, and a further £1.9 billion to address pressures relating to Covid-19 across health and social care.

Detail on how funding has been used specifically for the assessment and treatment of deep vein thrombosis would require to be requested from NHS Boards.

We will include record of booster vaccination in the NHS Scotland Covid Status app from 9 December and on paper certificates from 15 December.

The Scottish Government is clear that we expect gamekeepers, alongside other land managers, will play a key role in our plans to protect and restore biodiversity, and ensure that the land is managed to help us mitigate and adapt to climate change. We also recognise the economic and social value that sporting estates can bring to rural communities. As we develop and implement policy in these areas we will seek opportunities to engage with gamekeepers both formally and informally and we hope they will continue to share their expertise and experience.

The Scottish Ambulance Service do not directly employ taxi drivers. The Service have accessed taxis through established contracts with territorial Health Boards. These taxis firms are regularly used by Health Boards for transporting patients and staff and have longstanding contracts with the NHS. Drivers who work under the contract have live PVG (Protection on Vulnerable Groups) registration via Disclosure Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s commitment to train 500 Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs) by 2021 was met by August 2021. As of September 2021, 536 nurses had completed their Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Nursing Practice (PG Dip ANP).

Table 1 shows the total number of patients seen for first treatment following referral to CAMH Services, and the number of patients seen who waited more than 18 weeks between referral and first treatment appointment in CAMH Services for each year between January 2015 and up to the latest published data for quarter ending September 2021.

The Scottish Government national standard is that 90% of children and young people should start treatment within 18 weeks of referral.

Table 1: Total number of patients seen and waiting times from referral to treatment, NHS Scotland

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ministers agreed to move the date of Scotland’s Census from March 2021 to March 2022. This decision was taken to address significant pandemic risks to the successful completion of the census and to the delivery of the benefits required by the people of Scotland.

The impact of an extra year adds to the programme lifecycle cost, with the major financial implications of the move to 2022 being:

• The cost of extending suppliers contracts; and
• The programme’s headcount being maintained for an extra year.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) undertook significant engagement with the multiple census suppliers, with initial and final repricing exercises, interrogation of costs and an extensive resource planning exercise. This work assessed estimated additional costs of up to £21.6m for the delivery of Scotland’s Census in 2022 across the remaining lifecycle of the programme.

NRS continues to deliver against the revised plan with arrangements for Scotland’s Census 2022 well advanced.