Chamber and committees

We do not want to see the closure of good quality care homes and we understand the concern this causes for residents and their families, as well as for the wider community. Of course, when a home closes this can have a knock-on impact to the local economy, this particularly is felt in rural and remote areas of the country.

The economic impact on families and communities can go beyond traditional economic measures and can be greatly influenced by individual’s own circumstances and their reactions to any such changes.

We know that Scotland’s Adult Social Care sector is a significant contributor towards the Economy, adding multiple billions in Gross Value Added and employing tens-of-thousands of people. Whilst challenging to estimate we do note recent reports, commissioned by the Skills for Care and Development Alliance, which provides some indication of the potential scale of the economic value of social care in Scotland (Economic and social value of the UK adult social care sector: Scotland).

Additionally, I would highlight that although we have overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, the statutory responsibility for delivering, commissioning, providing appropriate social care capacity at a local level lies with local authorities, NHS boards and integrated Health and Social Care Partnerships. This includes the responsibility for these local authorities to develop contingency plans for each service they commission or provide, to have robust plans in place should a service close, as well as risk assessments to determine potential impacts on the local social care sector, wider system and economy.

While I recognise the seriousness of the risks faced by the social care sector, the projections from partners such as Scottish Care are the worst-case scenario. Investment by the Scottish Government into the social care sector has increased quite substantially, during a period in which pressures on public finances have been most acute

We do understand the anxiety and growing concerns within the care home and wider social care sectors regarding the current pressures on the financial viability of the sectors. Pressures that have been significantly added to by decisions taken by the UK Government, such as the increase in employers National Insurance Contributions, changes to the social care visa system and salary threshold levels.

Scottish Government officials are undertaking a programme of work to understand and respond to the current financial viability pressures in the sector and the impact that this change will have. That work remains ongoing and will continue to work with partners across social care to help manage the current risks and move towards a more sustainable future for social care within the country.

Directly comparable data is available from Financial Year 2014-2015 onwards corresponding to the introduction of the EDGE clinical research management system across the territorial NHS Boards and this data has been provided in the table below.

Patient recruitment figures by Financial Year are provided for 11/14 territorial NHS Boards. NHS Orkney and NHS Shetland patients are routinely treated as part of the NHS Grampian service and patients from these boards are included in the NHS Grampian recruitment figures below. A similar arrangement exists between NHS Western Isles and NHS Highland and is reflected in the recruitment figures below.

Accessed has been interpreted as patients who have been consented and recruited into a trial.

Drug trials has been interpreted as a Clinical Trial of an Investigative Medicinal Product as defined in the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trial) regulations 2004.

Workforce recruitment within the Highland region is managed by NHS Highland and therefore this information is not held by the Scottish Government.

Suicide Prevention Scotland, the delivery vehicle for Creating Hope Together, has been engaging with Suicide Prevention Leads in local areas to facilitate the development of local suicide bereavement approaches that meet the needs of their communities.

Specifically, in the Borders region, there has been good engagement with the local suicide prevention lead within the Health and Social Care Partnership to progress work to develop a local Suicide Bereavement Service. It is anticipated this will connect to the existing After a Suicide Working Group and Wellbeing Hub resources.

The Scottish Government does not retain this information.

Public Dental Service Senior Dental Officers (SDO) have varying individual duties across management and outreach responsibilities. The clinical hours required for an SDO will therefore vary within an NHS Board and between the other NHS health boards.

I have the utmost sympathy for the women who may have been adversely affected by diethylstilbestrol (otherwise known as DES or stilbestrol).

The regulations for the licensing, safety and efficacy of medicines is currently reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Any review of diethylstilbestrol (otherwise known as DES or stilbestrol) would ultimately be a matter for them to consider.

The Independent Working Group’s report on Antisocial Behaviour raises many important issues, including housing related matters and homelessness. The Scottish Government, Police Scotland and COSLA are considering the recommendations and Ministers provided a progress report to Parliament on key areas in April which will be followed by a comprehensive response in the Summer.

We are continuing to work closely with partners to design and plan the expansion of suicide bereavement support across Scotland, taking account of the evaluation findings and existing local provision.

In addition to delivering suicide bereavement support services in Highland and Ayrshire & Arran Health Boards, Suicide Prevention Scotland has progressed discussions to establish suicide bereavement support which connects to existing local and national provision in several NHS Board areas. These are: Borders, Tayside, Fife, Shetland, Dumfries & Galloway and Greater Glasgow & Clyde.

We will continue our discussions with the remaining health boards over the coming months.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government. Details regarding the Campbeltown workforce including students on clinical outreach placement will be held by NHS Highland.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The information may be held under the National Dental Inspection Programme (NDIP) which is a key function of the Public Dental Service, for which responsibility lies with Health Boards.

The NDIP website holds reports dating back to 2003 and covers information on how many children received an inspection each year. The website also holds some earlier reports from the Scottish Health Boards Epidemiological Programme (SHBDEP), which preceded NDIP.