Seòmar agus comataidhean

The requested information is not held centrally as ISD do not collect vacancy data on support staff, including hospital porters.

Further notes:

• Further information on the statistics, including information on how the data are collected and notes to aid interpretation, is given in the 'FAQs' section of the Workforce Statistics website at http://www.isdscotland.org/workforce/ .

The Scottish Government is supportive of the innovative approach being developed by NHS Grampian to set up an international health office to provide support and guidance for staff who choose to get involved in global citizenship. These plans are aligned to the aims of the NHS Scotland Global Citizenship Programme, which is a key part of the delivery of the Scottish Government’s International Development Strategy.

The Scottish Access Collaborative has developed a comprehensive programme of work over the last year to support a sustainable balance between demand and capacity in the health and care service in Scotland. It has endorsed a number of challenges which are being taken through an agreed development, testing and mandate process, and is actively working to identify new high impact challenges for future inclusion in the programme. Current workstreams include:

• Active Clinical Referral Triage (ACRT)
• Enhanced Recovery Pre-operative anaemia programme
• Waiting List Validation
• Team Job Planning
• Accelerating the Development of Enhanced Practitioners (ADEPt)
• Virtual Attendance scoping and piloting
• Clinical Pathways Infrastructure Scoping

It has also supported a series of Specialty Group workshops through the year, which are co-producing a series of recommendation reports. These are completed for Cardiology, Urology, Gynaecology, Gastroenterology, Respiratory and underway for ENT, Chronic Pain, Neurology, Dermatology, Breast Services, General Surgery and Vascular Services. Orthopaedics and Ophthalmology continue to contribute through their existing national Specialty Groups.

We are working across the wide range of public services to harness the broadest range of opportunities to improve the population's mental health. Our PfG announced an additional £250 million of investment in mental health over the next five years, to introduce a package of measures to improve services for children, young people and adults, and embed support for good mental health across our public services.

We expect NHS Boards to work with their Integration Authority, local government, third sector and other partners to deliver fit for purpose mental health services and support that meets the needs of their local population, including women in this age group.

As part of the 2017-2020 National Dementia Strategy, we continue to take national action to support local partnerships to improve the quality of post-diagnostic support, to train the workforce, innovative and improve the consistency of the service and access to it.

Many people are diagnosed in very old age with other chronic or terminal conditions and for some their dementia support – including in residential or acute settings– will be an addition to existing care packages and not reflected in the post-diagnostic figures. Others will not wish to take up the service straight away while they process their diagnosis. We are doing more work to understand the array of reasons individuals might not complete the service.

Integration Joint Boards are responsible for planning, commissioning and delivering dementia post-diagnostic services. The Scottish Budget delivers additional resource funding of almost £730 million (5.5%) for health and care services. Our budget includes £160 million of additional health and care investment in local authorities – which will support social care and mental health measures, including those delivered by Integrated Joint Boards.

Over the long term life expectancy and healthy life expectancy have increased. However, it is difficult to pinpoint the cause of changing trends. The issues are complex and relate to an ageing population, inequalities, deprivation and poverty.

We remain focused on addressing the underlying causes that drive health inequalities. Our alcohol prevention framework and our diet and healthy weight strategy are among the measures designed to help tackle some of the key issues.

We are not aware of any cases where Boards have been subject to legal action regarding informing parents of the sex of their baby at ultrasound. Gender scans are not carried out by the NHS as there is generally no clinical reason to find out the sex of the baby. However, on some occasions it may be possible to give an indication of what the sex is and it is for Boards to decide whether to have a local policy on sharing this information. Any Boards that give this information will indicate to parents that the scan in not a conclusive test and may not be accurate.

Further discussion on the provision of independent advice on race equality, including any new Independent Race Equality Adviser, will take place when the Race Equality Action Plan Programme Board next meet on 4 March 2019. This will inform decisions by Ministers in due course. At that point a further update will be provided.

The main purposes of ultrasound scans are to date pregnancy, chart the growth of the baby and provide antenatal screenings. Then at the more detailed scan at 20 weeks, to assess for any possible health problems. Gender scans are not carried out by the NHS as there is usually no clinical reason to find out the sex of the baby. At some scans the sonographer may be able to identify the sex of the baby, it is entirely at the Health Boards’ discretion whether they give out this information. We do not collect data on which Boards provide this information. There are no plans to change this policy at this time.

Over the long term life expectancy and healthy life expectancy have increased. However, it is difficult to pinpoint the cause of changing trends. The issues are complex and relate to an ageing population, inequalities, deprivation and poverty.

We remain focused on addressing the underlying causes that drive health inequalities. Our alcohol prevention framework and our diet and healthy weight strategy are among the measures designed to help tackle some of the key issues.