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To date, the NHSScotland ‘Once for Scotland’ Workforce Policies Programme has refreshed the following PIN policies and process:

• Attendance
• Bullying and Harassment
• Capability
• Conduct
• Grievance
• Workforce Policies Investigation Process

In addition, the NHSScotland Whistleblowing Policy that includes the National Whistleblowing Standards was published in April 2021.

Following a pause due to the pandemic, the ‘Once for Scotland’ Workforce Policies programme of work formally restarted in June 2022. The review of the suite of Supporting the Work-Life Balance Policies that include flexible working arrangements and the Homeworking Policy (now known as the NHSScotland Flexible Work Location Policy) is currently at an advanced stage.

The programme policy development schedule is reviewed at each stage to enable response to service pressures and prioritised policy needs. Requests for new policies are considered by the ‘Once for Scotland’ Workforce Policies Programme Board.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13517 on 24 January 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government works closely with partners including Health Boards, Skills Development Scotland (SDS), and the Scottish Funding Council on skills development, employability and widening access to health and social care careers, including the development of progressive career opportunities for existing staff and apprenticeship models to provide ‘earn and learn’ pathways.

Boards have created opportunities for over 500 band 4 assistant practitioners across acute, primary care and mental health, using the Development and Education framework for Bands 2-4 staff to support the continued professional development of this integral part of the NHS workforce.

We continue to prioritise the development of credentialing of medical skills, working collaboratively with the other 3 nations, GMC, Medical Colleges, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and NHS Boards to identify and progress upskilling priorities more quickly that will improve services and benefit patients.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) was commissioned by the Scottish Government in late 2021 to develop Objective Structured Clinical Examination(OSCE) training provision and this training is available to all international nurses working across NHS Scotland as required for NMC registration.

Humza Yousaf: ‘Progress has been made with delivery of this commitment, stage one of the design of the portal has been completed and NHS Education Scotland have been commissioned to bring together staff equality networks across NHS Scotland to discuss proposed content, in connection with sharing resources, information and support.’

Our Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal Plan , published on 30 November 2021, is backed by £70m investment and focuses on recovery of services, including Workforce Training and Development.

The National Endoscopy Training Programme (NETP) was established in September 2021 and has recruited staff to deliver endoscopy training to a wide range of learners from different professional backgrounds. This supports the upskilling of practitioners from across Health Boards through a range of courses, including immersion training.

We have also established training programmes for Nurse Endoscopists, Advanced Urology Practitioners and Healthcare Support worker.

The requested information on how many WTE (c) project coordinators and (d) community navigators is not centrally available.

Information on how many WTE (a) clinical psychologists, (b) counsellors (e) assistant psychologists and (f) other posts created to support the health and social care workforce in the last 12 months can be found on the following link NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence .

The Scottish Government is working in conjunction with NES to support the identification of emerging technologies to assist the gap between service demand and capacity within the health and care system, particularly around staff training to enhance skills. Examples include:

• Online training provision within the Scotland Deanery.
• Train-the-trainer for “simulation” training across a number of specialties and in specific procedures, such as in cystoscopy.
• Virtual reality pilots for communications training in handling stressful situations in pre-hospital emergency care and mental health tribunals.
• Mental health simulation training.
• Virtual reality simulators, including six endoscopy simulators in 6 different health boards, alongside a national introductory course covering cancer diagnosis.
• A national urology simulator and learning programme.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10530 on 28 September 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

In my statement to parliament in November last year I stated I had recently launched Leading to Change, the Scottish Government’s national leadership development programme, for health, social work and social care. More information can be found on the website: Leading to Change | Leadership Development | NHS Scotland

a) The budget for Leading to Change is £978,000 for year 2022-23.

b) We have conducted user research to ascertain the programme’s reach and to ensure it fully meets the user needs. As of 9 January the following data applies:

• Website ; 7,774 users, 30,731 page views - 3rd October 2022 (launch) to 9th January 2023 (18:00);
• 1983 people signed up to distribution list - 3rd October 2022 (launch) to 9th January 2023 (18:00);
• 10,238 registered users on the Leading to Change app - 3rd October 2022 (launch) to 9th January 2023
• Twitter 5,569 followers as at 9th January 2023 (accounts were @ProjectLiftScot pre 3rd October 2022)
• 964 colleagues attended 11 events - 3rd October 2022 (launch) to 9th January 2023
• 107 colleagues on longer term leadership development programmes delivered or co-delivered by Leading to Change between Sept 22 – 09 January 2023 (some programme began before the launch date)
• 178/200 available Leadership Live subscriptions (22 pending) 3rd October 2022 (launch) to 9th January 2023

c) By ensuring we invest in leadership development we are supporting our valuable front line services to create the conditions and culture that are critical to delivering better outcomes for the people who use our services. Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the core of the Leading to Change programme with tailored and targeted interventions being delivered to increase and support the diverse workforce.

An update on the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care will be published later this year.