Chamber and committees

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

Fully vaccinated means that it has been at least 14 days since your final dose of an approved COVID-19 vaccine. To count as fully vaccinated, you must have been vaccinated in either:

1. The UK, including part of a UK vaccine rollout overseas - with an NHS approved vaccine.

2. An EU member state – with a vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

3. Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino or Vatican City - with a vaccine approved by the EMA or the Swiss vaccination programme

4. The USA – with a vaccine authorised by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

If you’ve not been vaccinated in one of these countries, with an approved vaccine, you should follow the rules for someone who has not been fully vaccinated.

If you live in Scotland and you've received your first, second or both vaccine doses outside of Scotland but in the Common Travel Area, you can get your coronavirus vaccination status via the normal process as records should transfer over to the Scottish system: Get a record of your coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination status | The coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine (nhsinform.scot) . If your data is not showing you should phone the COVID-19 Vaccination Status Helpline on 0808 196 8565.

If you have moved to/from Scotland during the vaccine process and only had 1 dose here it is possible to request proof of the single dose you received in Scotland through the normal process. You will need to request proof of your other dose from the country you received it in.

If you received both doses in another Common Travel Area country, you'll need to request your vaccination status from that country.

If you received 1 or both doses in an international country you will need to request proof of those vaccines from that country.

Ambulances are not single-crewed other than in exceptional circumstances, such as short notice unplanned staff absences, and every effort is made to double crew ambulances through rostered and relief staff, overtime or our bank staff.

Unfortunately as a result of COVID-19 there has been occasions where single crewing has had to be used as a result of late notice staff abstractions, however we are continuing to work with the Scottish Ambulance Service to reduce this where possible.

The following table outlines the number of single crew shifts, not ambulances each year since 2017/18.

Each Health Board operates their own escalation policy for the management of inpatient capacity that includes well established processes with locally agreed trigger points for maintaining a safe service and ensuring patient safety.

Health Boards across the country are operating under significant pressure due to the direct and indirect consequences of the pandemic, which has been the biggest challenge the NHS has faced in its 73 year existence.

The Scottish Government is in daily contact with all Health Boards to monitor the pressures in the system and continues to support improvement work to minimise delays for patients no matter where they are in the system.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government and would require to be obtained directly from Health Boards.

The number of staff working in NHS Grampian has increased by 20.7 per cent since Sept 2006, to over 13,520 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE). This includes a 6.9 per cent increase in numbers of Qualified Nurses and Midwives, which have risen to 4,099.1 WTE.

NHSScotland Boards are required to have the correct staff in place to meet the needs of the service and ensure high quality patient care. They have fully delegated powers in relation to employment issues. The Scottish Government works closely with Boards to support their efforts in staff recruitment. The creation of posts and filling of individual vacancies will depend on the service needs of each Board, taking account of national and local priorities.

We are investing £11 million in new recruitment activity and in the creation of a National Centre for Workforce Supply. The Centre will offer NHS Boards expert advice on labour market intelligence and coordinate recruitment campaigns, providing vital additional support to health board recruitment teams.

We are also taking forward a comprehensive programme to support recovery and build further capacity. The programme will include measures to increase international recruitment, retain staff and attract more returners to the service. The Scottish Government will continue to work with partners to explore options and opportunities that allow us to best support our registered staff.

This government has seen an 87.7% increase in consultant oncologists and we’ve increased consultant radiologists by 57.4% (September 2006 – June 2021). We recognise the immense pressure our NHS workforce has been under in response to the pandemic and we are working to provide a sustainable workforce. The National Cancer Plan is backed by £114.5 million and has the potential to provide significant financial support to address cancer workforce shortages.

As part of the work of the National Cancer Recovery Group (NCRG), we are currently carrying out an exercise to identify workforce requirements to help inform wider planning discussions. This will look at roles specifically related to cancer.

The NHS Scotland COVID Status app was released on
‎ 30 September. The App allows users to display their vaccination status for international travel and to gain entry to late night venues and large events within Scotland. To date it has been downloaded over 600,000 times.

To date 791 paramedics have been recruited. Another 126 will come on stream in 4 months with more than 100 joining in early 2022.

Covid-19 has resulted in some delays to recruitment which will push the achievement of this commitment out to 2022 but revised plans indicate a high level of confidence in achieving this.

With increasing A&E attendances, demand and capacity concerns and the impact of Covid-19, it is important that we ensure the NHS is equipped with the resources it needs to meet the challenges of the future. By investing in a professional, highly skilled ambulance workforce, this will help deliver a better service for patients all across Scotland.

Scottish Government officials are in regular contact with NHS Highland to support the service management team with the delivery of orthopaedic elective procedures within the Health Board.

In response to the pressures on NHS services caused by the pandemic, which we are still firmly in the midst of, the First Minster launched the NHS Recovery Plan, on the 25 August. The Plan sets out the Scottish Governments key headline ambitions and actions to be developed and delivered now and over the next 5 years, including an increase in both inpatient and outpatient capacity across the Country. The plan is backed by more than £1 billion of investment over the next five years.

As part of this, we are investing over £400 million in a network of National Treatment Centres, one of which will be located in NHS Highland. When fully operational, the National Treatment Centres will provide increased capacity for surgeries and procedures across 14 specialties, including hip and knee surgery.