Chamber and committees

Funding for the Childsmile programme in 2013-14 is £14,956,000

Childsmile is aimed at every child in Scotland through Childsmile Core and Childsmile Practice from birth until age five years.

Children living in our most deprived communities will receive additional benefit from Childsmile Nursery and Childsmile School at least up to Primary 4.

The Scottish Government mapped the location of dental practices in Scotland as part of a review carried out in 2010. The review “An Analysis of the Dental Workforce in Scotland” can be found at:

http://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/media/279142/analysis_of_dental_workforce_in_scotland_strategic_review_2010.pdf

This measured on a national basis the average travelling distances to practices rather than concentration of practitioners. This showed that people living in the most deprived areas were amongst the groups with greater access but more detailed information would be analysed at health board level, where responsibility for the overall provision rests of NHS general dental services in an area.

It is for boards to identify any gaps in provision and determine the best solutions to meet local needs. To help boards improve access to general dental services in their area, the Scottish Government has made available a range of measures, including the Scottish Dental Access Initiative.

Continuous registration with a dentist under NHS arrangements was introduced in 2010. Continuous registration means that patients have an ongoing relationship with their dentist and can access regular dental examinations (the dental “check-up’’), which will help pick up any signs of concern early.

Early detection of cancer is a feature of the free NHS dental examination. The fee payable to practitioners for “check-ups’’ is for a clinical examination which we expect to include all oral tissues, i.e. the soft tissue as well as teeth.

The Oral Health Assessment and Review (although not specifically developed to detect cancer early) was developed by the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme in 2011 in order to facilitate the move from a restorative approach to patient care to a preventive and long-term approach that is risk-based and meets the specific needs of individual patients. We have asked NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to use the Oral Health Assessment and Review as the basis of a national audit for dentists to review their current practice.

My officials have contacted NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde who have advised that providing this data could lead to the identification of individual patients. Therefore, it would be inappropriate to disclose these details.

Public appointment assessors oversee every regulated public appointment on behalf of the Public Appointments Commissioner for Scotland.

Mr Campbell’s appointment followed an open, fair and merit-based approach in line with the Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies in Scotland.

A Scottish Government expert group has been established to consider NHSScotland small occupational groups within the wider healthcare setting. This group includes representation from service, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and staff side. The action plan for perfusionists has been referred to this group for discussion and will report in due course.

Mr Campbell’s appointment followed an open, fair and merit-based approach in line with the Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies in Scotland.

As announced at the time of his appointment, Mr Campbell has a range of skills. More details regarding these can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2013/05/NHS-board-appointments28052013.

On 8 May 2013, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing announced in Parliament the “development of a bed-management tool.” We envisage that the bed planning tool will help NHS boards to develop their local delivery plans, at least in part, for the financial year 2014-15 and fully from 2015-16 onwards. We expect guidance on the bed planning tool to be issued in 2014-15.

The Scottish Government’s Directorate for Health Workforce and Performance is leading on the development of the bed planning tool. The directorate will be working closely with a range of clinical professionals and national groups to develop the bed planning tool and its associated guidance during the initial development phase.