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We are not currently aware of any stroke unit closures.

The Scottish Government recognises that delivery of the acute stroke care bundle is of crucial importance to the provision of high quality stroke care. Monitoring of performance against stroke bundle standards through the Scottish Stroke Care Audit allows the Scottish Government to identify where challenges are being faced in the delivery of high quality stroke care.

We continue to expect Health Boards to identify aspects of their stroke services which do not meet the Scottish Stroke Care Standards and to work to improve standards of care locally.

Our vision is for everyone with rehabilitation needs to be able to access the care and support they need to live well, on their own terms.

Defined performance markers such as access to acute therapy, access to inpatient stroke therapy, access to community stroke therapy and six-month reviews are being included in the refreshed Stroke Improvement Plan, and annual board reviews carried out by the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme Team, led by the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme Lead, will assess rehabilitation performance against these targets.

All beavers that have been captured in Tayside and translocated to projects in Scotland, England and Wales are subject to disease screening and appropriate treatment as a licence condition prior to release. This screening ensures that beavers released under licence from NatureScot are not carrying Giardia prior to any translocations.

The Stroke Improvement Plan has been in place since its introduction in 2014 and has provided the framework for the provision of stroke care in Scotland.

The Stroke Improvement Plan emphasises the importance of the delivery of the stroke bundle, to ensure that all appropriate patients receive timely access to key interventions. The latest Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme annual report (published in June 2022 and available at: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/scottish-stroke-improvement-programme/scottish-stroke-improvement-programme-2022-national-report/ ) contains data collected in 2021. This demonstrated improvements in the initiation of aspirin therapy within one day (92% in 2021 v. 89% in 2020) and stroke patients receiving brain imaging within 12 hours (89% in 2021 v. 86% in 2020). Stroke bundle performance data for 2022 will be available in the 2023 national report, due to be published in June 2023.

In line with the Stroke Improvement Plan’s priority relating to the need for a skilled and knowledgeable workforce, in 2022 the Scottish Government has continued to support Stroke and TIA Assessment Training (STAT+), a standardised programme of thrombectomy education for trained healthcare professionals. We have provided funding to enable Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland to continue to deliver these education sessions to NHS Boards across Scotland to ensure increased knowledge, skills and management of thrombectomy patients. The delivery of this education package will support the ongoing rollout of a national thrombectomy service.

Following the publication of the National Advisory Committee for Stroke’s Progressive Stroke Pathway, work is underway to develop a refreshed Stroke Improvement Plan by the end of 2022. This will outline how recommendations in the Progressive Stroke Pathway will be prioritized and implemented, as well as a continued emphasis on the importance of the Scottish Stroke Care Standards.

The Scottish Stroke Care Standards are regularly reviewed in line with current evidence and updated guidelines. We monitor the implementation of these standards through the Scottish Stroke Care Audit to ensure that stroke patients in Scotland are receiving high quality care.

The number of thrombectomy procedures carried out at each stroke centre in the last year are:

West of Scotland: 16

East of Scotland: 17

North of Scotland: 31

The Scottish Government does not hold information about individual patients transfers.

The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme team works closely with services and NHS boards to use learning from the Scottish Stroke Care Audit to support improvement across the whole stroke pathway, including timely access to thrombolysis.

For example, planning work is ongoing within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to develop a telemedicine stroke service. This aims to introduce remote specialist assessment of hyperacute stroke patients out-of-hours at Glasgow Royal Infirmary and 24/7 at Royal Alexandra Hospital to improve overall door-to-needle (DTN) times for thrombolysis.

Despite the continued and unprecedented challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme report, published on 28 June, highlights areas where a high level of care is provided for stroke patients, including improvements in the number of patients who receive brain imagining within 12 hours of arrival to hospital.

We recognise that there are areas within stroke care that have proven particularly challenging and we are committed to continued improvement. We expect health boards to identify aspects of their stroke services which do not meet the Scottish Standards and to work to improve standards of care locally.

Dental nursing is not a controlled subject and so the Scottish Government, via the Scottish Funding Council does not specify any intake targets for dental nursing. The Scottish Government has no oversight or control of the dental nursing workforce. Rather, we make arrangements with independent contractor dentists to provide NHS dental services and they then employ dental nurses as required.

Colleges operate independently of Government, and it is for them to decide on the shape of their curriculum, taking into account the needs of the region and communities they serve. Colleges plan their course provision in line with the economic needs of their regions, and through working closely with employers, are able to respond flexibly to the skills demands of their region.