Seòmar agus comataidhean

I declare an interest as a practising NHS GP.

I would like to ask a number of very direct questions, if I may, and I would like everyone to respond to them. In this year’s budget, do you have a funding gap, and what is it? David Williams—I will start with you.

I am sorry—I asked what the number is.

Stephen Morgan, earlier we spoke about people who move between health board areas and thus into different IJB areas. When they get assessed by a social worker in one area, how much of that assessment is carried over into another one? Obviously, there will be differences, but how much is repeated?

My question is for Katie Cuthbertson and is about IT. Your website shows that you are involved in that. How long have we been trying to get IT systems to talk to each other?

Okay. On the NHS’s engagement with technology—I am talking about all technology—what work are you doing to standardise the way in which companies can come in and say, “Let us get approval with either yourselves or with a health board” and not have to do that on a repeated and significantly different basis with all health boards?

On your point about social workers dealing with people in crisis, in my conversations with social workers, they tell me that the fun has gone from their jobs and that, whereas, previously, they were seen as somebody who helps and ensures that people do not get to the point of crisis, all they are doing now is crisis management and they are often seen as the bad person—the person you do not want to come knocking on your door. That is quite a step change for them. How can we make the job what it should be, which is about prevention?

On the subject of training and social workers coming into the workforce, do we know how many are being trained each year? Is there any significant increase on what that number was in the past?

Therefore, you have done that piece of work and you have found that there is a cost-effective piece of technology that is going to work—such as artificial intelligence when it comes to reading our X-rays and computed tomography, as an example. How can somebody get that piece of technology across Scotland in a way that is easy to access that does not involve going to every health board and convincing them individually?

Professor Din, what would be the most helpful technological input in your everyday work?

It would be good if I could just see another GP’s notes when a patient is transferred.

I will address my final question to Peter Hastie. Professor Din talked about straightforward questions, and the most straightforward questions that I am asked by my patients when they are on a waiting list are, “How long am I going to have to wait?” and “Where am I on that list?” Do you agree that patients should have access to that information? If so, how can we make that happen?