Seòmar agus comataidhean

In Autumn and Winter 2017-18, the Scottish Government will engage with stakeholders with a view to developing a new suicide prevention action plan for publication in 2018. The key themes of the existing Suicide Prevention Strategy namely improving responses to distress, improving the NHS response to suicide, talking about suicide, and developing the evidence base remain pertinent to continuing efforts to reduce the suicide rate; we continue to work with stakeholders to implement the commitments under these themes.

The vaccination of NHS staff against seasonal flu is an occupational health responsibility of NHS Boards. NHS Boards provide high level data to Health Protection Scotland on flu vaccine uptake amongst their healthcare workers, and this allows an estimate to be calculated.

Flu uptake rates for healthcare workers by NHS Board are available for the 2011-12 flu season onwards and can be viewed at: http://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/resp/seasonalinfluenzavisualisation.aspx. It is important to highlight that calculating uptake of vaccination by NHS staff is complicated for a number of reasons. NHS Boards use different occupational health systems, there are limitations within the data provided by NHS Boards to Health Protection Scotland and some staff will be vaccinated through the core vaccination programme by their GP due to risk factors.

Official statistics on hospital beds are routinely published on the ISD website.

The Vaccination Transformation Programme will support Health Boards to design local solutions to vaccination delivery. Health Boards will be able to make different arrangements in their areas to suit local circumstances. In some areas GPs may continue to deliver vaccination programmes through local agreements.

The Information requested is not reported centrally, but the tables show the number of patients for whom dehydration and related conditions were the main diagnoses recorded as the reason for hospital admission (table 1) or one of the diagnoses recorded (table 2). Because dehydration is reported together with other conditions such as hypovolaemia (low blood volume), the figures given are likely to overestimate the number of cases. Where dehydration and related conditions were the main reason for hospital admission, the most common other conditions recorded included vomiting, kidney disease and diabetes.

Table 1: Number of people who had at least one admission to hospital during the year because of a primary diagnosis of volume depletion, including dehydration or related condition; by Health Board of treatment; 1999 – 2016

Table 2: Number of people who had at least one admission to hospital during the year because of any diagnosis of volume depletion, including dehydration or related condition; by Health board of treatment; 1999 – 2016

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally as this is a matter for the Department of Work and Pensions. A DS1500 form is issued when there is a terminal illness and the prognosis is that the patient may live less than 6 months, it is provided by a GP to the patient, or patient's representative, and it is for them to forward to the Department of Work and Pensions to fast tracks claims when applying for certain benefits.

Action 16 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-27 committed to fund the introduction of a Managed Clinical Network to improve the recognition and treatment of perinatal mental health problems. Recruitment to the network has been completed and it is now operational.

The network is undertaking a review of current education and training across disciplines, including mental health nursing, over the course of the coming year. The network is also working with NHS Education for Scotland to identify a training plan for professionals, including mental health nurses working within specialist perinatal mental health services and those working in general mental health services.

Regulation for the Licensing and Safety of Medicines is currently a reserved area for the UK Government.

The Scottish Government meets regularly with the MHRA to discuss medicine safety issues. This includes discussion on Primodos. Furthermore, I wrote to the UK Government urging them to conduct a thorough examination of all materials in the Review and also to ensure that families in Scotland were given the opportunity to engage with the independent Review.

The Scottish Government has arranged to meet with the Chair of the Association for Children Damaged by Hormone Pregnancy Tests to hear first hand their experience and learning from observing the Expert Working Group Review.

A core principle of the Vaccination Transformation Programme is that services will continue to be delivered to patients in a safe, sustainable and acceptable way. It will be a matter for Boards locally to determine whether or not any change in service provision will warrant consultation with the public, for example if there is a meaningful change in how patients access services, but in many cases this is not likely to be necessary.

In some parts of the country NHS Boards have already taken over responsibility for delivering vaccinations previously delivered by GPs, and all NHS Boards currently deliver school-based vaccinations.

The Scottish Government has no plans to review CEL 12 (2012). It is for the integration authorities, working with their local partners, to commission services and supports to meet the needs of their local populations, including their palliative and end of life care needs.

We are working on up-to-date advice for Joint Integration Boards, to support them in ensuring appropriate care.