Chamber and committees

A total of 254 Target Enhanced Recruitment Scheme (TERS) bursaries have been taken up by GP trainees in the South Scotland parliamentary region since 2018. A full breakdown is included in the following table.

The safety of patients and staff within our A&E Departments is paramount. This is why the Scottish Government is providing Boards facing the greatest challenges, including University Hospital Monklands and Forth Valley Royal Hospital, with enhanced support over the winter period. The level of delayed discharge is driving up A&E long waits, which is why we are working jointly with Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships to ensure people leave hospital without delay, freeing up vital beds for those who need them most.

Since the beginning of 2021, HIS has been carrying out COVID-19 focused inspections of acute hospitals, using methodology adapted from their previous ‘safe and clean’ inspections. As at November 2022, HIS have carried out nine Safe Delivery of Care acute hospital inspections.

Through our £600 million winter plan we are recruiting 1,000 new NHS staff. Additionally our £50 million Urgent and Unscheduled Care Collaborative looks to drive down A&E waits by improving the systems and processes to deliver better communications and robust escalation. This approach also aims to reduce unnecessary attendances through redesign of urgent care which signposts people to more appropriate care, avoiding admission where possible through Hospital at Home and our Out-patient Antimicrobial Therapy service which allows patients to be treated at home or in the community, ensuring people are discharged as soon as fit and ready.

Our Right Care Right Place media campaign aims to help the public to better understand the healthcare services available to them so they can make more informed choices about the right care in the right place for their specific health care needs which is not always emergency care.

Beds data by NHS board and hospital are already published by Public Health Scotland. The most recent quarterly publication is ‘ Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information (quarterly) - Quarter ending 30 June 2022 ’, which was published on 29 November 2022. This is the latest available data that can be released as we are now within 12 weeks of the next scheduled publication in February 2023.

The beds data can be found on the Data files page by scrolling down to the heading “Hospital beds to June 2022”, where there is a link to the following Excel file:

• Beds by NHS board of treatment and specialty (csv | 4.5Mb).

This is quarterly data for the five year period up to and including April – June 2022.

Below is an excerpt from this file that contains the latest values for Highland hospitals.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to delivering a world class health service for the people of Scotland in a sustainable model that remains fully aligned with the founding principles of the NHS. This will deliver high quality, safe, effective and person-centred care to all patients as they access services. Our Progress Update on the NHS Recovery Plan outlines the actions that are underway as services remobilise from the pandemic. We regularly work with Healthcare Improvement Scotland Community Engagement through their Citizen’s Panel work to understand more clearly views across Scotland regarding their health service.

Energy pricing and the powers to create local tariffs are reserved to the UK Government. However, we will continue to engage with BEIS about its Energy Price Guarantee review for April 2024 and the consideration of social tariffs for domestic consumers, especially for those in or at risk of fuel poverty.

The First Minister has also chaired two energy summits since August. These have discussed the impact of UK Government measures in response to the energy crisis and agreed that these should be more support targeted towards vulnerable households and businesses, including those living in rural communities.

The Scottish freight gauge programme identified several sections of the Aberdeen to Central Belt route that would benefit from infrastructure interventions to allow larger intermodal freight containers that are common in road haulage which would support modal shift from road to rail. Such works would also facilitate the clearances between trains and infrastructure necessary for electrification.

I am advised by my officials in Transport Scotland that Network Rail is refining its proposed scope of works for the Aberdeen to Central Belt project, which will be considered by the Scottish Ministers in the new year.

The Scottish Government has published the National Carers Strategy today: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805253037

The National Carers Strategy sets out actions on COVID-19 recovery, the cost crisis and improving carer support in a meaningful and sustainable way. The strategy focuses on carers and their needs, setting out how policies across the Scottish Government can work together with other public bodies to support carers as we recover from the pandemic and beyond.

The Scottish Government will deliver a statement to parliament in the new year, subject to the agreement of the Parliamentary Bureau.

The Scottish Government is considering the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) latest advice on greenhouse gas emissions targets and will respond as soon as possible. Under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, the CCC’s advice on future target levels must be sought at least every five years to ensure they are still in line with, among other things, current international carbon reporting practice.

We are working closely with NHS Boards to support a range of local initiatives designed to meet the basic and practical needs of junior doctors, and their teams. This includes access to quiet spaces to support health and wellbeing, the installation of lockers and further support to facilitate out of hours catering. The Scottish Government is determined to deliver the recommendations of the Expert Working Group’s report on junior doctor wellbeing and have begun introducing further improvements to working conditions. We are on track to meet the key recommendation of limiting consecutive days of long shifts, with 99% compliance achieved in August 2022.