Question reference: S6W-08162
- Asked by: Dr. Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 22 April 2022 Registered interest
-
Current status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 May 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of the NHS Workforce Strategy, what level of additional staffing it considers will be needed by Scotland’s genetic laboratories in future years to ensure that patients can benefit from advances in precision treatments, and what steps it is taking to recruit and retain laboratory staff with the necessary skills to undertake, report and advise multi-disciplinary oncology teams on genetic test findings.
Answer
The Genetic Laboratory Major Service review considered the workforce requirements for our future genomics capabilities in NHS Scotland. A link to the report is available here:https://www.nss.nhs.scot/specialist-healthcare/specialist-services/genetic-and-molecular-pathology-laboratories/
In line with the recommendations from the Major Service Review, the NSD Transformation Team will consider the workforce planning requirements to implement the recommendations from the report in developing the action plan.
Over the coming months we will be expanding the membership of our Scottish Genomics Leadership Group(SGLG) and relevant work stream to include a wider pool of stakeholders than those currently on the SGLG. This expanded structure will consider the recommendations from the Major Service Review as well as considerations for further genomics expansion.
One of the workstreams will lead on workforce planning and will be done in partnership with relevant Trade Union representatives.