The Scottish Molecular Pathology Evaluation Panel provided an advice note in Oncotype DX in January 2016 which states that, “should a clinician consider that the molecular pathology test would assist in a decision on case management for a patient within the indication specified then the test should be undertaken”.

NHS Boards are responsible for providing services to meet the assessed needs of their resident populations taking into account relevant frameworks and guidance and within their annual allocations.

This information is not held centrally.

Information on the number of Psychiatrists employed by NHSScotland Health Boards in each year since 2003 is published by ISD Scotland and can be found at the following link:

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2016-12-06/Medical_Trend_S2016.xls

ISD also publish “Psychology Services Workforce in NHSScotland: Workforce Information” which can be found here (last updated 31 March 2016):

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2016-06-07/2016-06-07-Psychology-Workforce-Tables.xls

It is for NHS Boards to plan and deliver clinical services and ensure that they have appropriate staff in place to meet the needs of their services and ensure high quality patient care. As part of this, we expect NHS Boards to have robust workforce plans and recruitment and retention policies in place which take account of district nursing vacancies and retirements.

To make sure our NHS has the right skills mix, we will introduce national and regional workforce planning. On 1 February 2017 we launched the National Health and Social Care Workforce Planning Discussion Document. We are inviting responses to this consultation by 28 March 2017. The Discussion Document will inform the National Health and Social Care Workforce Plan, which will be published in Spring 2017. The consultation is available at the following link:-

https://consult.scotland.gov.uk/health-workforce/national-health-and-social-care-workforce-plan/

In recognition of the flexibilities that differing retirement ages will bring, the NHSScotland Working Longer Group has been working on a number of tools and products which will help employers in Scotland profile their workforce by age at all levels and embed discussions about retirement plans within the yearly appraisal process.

In addition the Scottish Government will increase student nursing and midwifery intakes for 2017-18 by 4.7%, the fifth successive rise, bringing us a step closer to delivering our commitment to create 1,000 extra nursing and midwifery training places over the course of this Parliament. The increase is part of an overall package of measures to support and strengthen our nursing and midwifery workforce.

The need for more access to support, including peer support, is one of the key themes of the “Gaun Yersel” Self Management strategy. The strategy was written by the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE) for the Scottish Government from the perspective of people with lived experience of long term conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease.

Through the Scottish Government funded Self Management Fund (which is administered by the ALLIANCE), 24 projects with peer support elements were funded a total of £1.7million during 2013 to 2015. The Scottish Government has committed £2million annually for the three year phase of the Fund (to run from April 2016 - March 2019) and to date £2million has been allocated to projects with peer support elements, of this £613,818 is dedicated to projects that involve young people and peer support.

The National Clinical Strategy is the Scottish Government’s blueprint for health and social care over the next 15 years. It’s one of the key drivers that will help deliver transformational change across our NHS.

Its foundation is to provide care as locally as possible through a whole-team, community-based approach which is vital to the future of the NHS, allowing people to continue to be treated close to home, or in their home, in the majority of cases.

The National Clinical Strategy sets out why the NHS in Scotland needs to adapt in the face of increasing and changing demand, along with significant constraints in terms of workforce and finances. The National Clinical Strategy sits alongside the Health and Social Care Integration and GIRFEC to ensure that there is a comprehensive approach to both improving the health of the population, and the healthcare available.

The Scottish Government has supported and funded Crohn’s and Colitis UK in the production of “Scotland Leading the Way - a National Blueprint for Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Scotland”, which seeks support NHS Boards in improving care and treatment for all people living with inflammatory bowel disease in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to equality and diversity, and that commitment extends to ensuring that these values are fully respected by, and reflected in the operation of NHSScotland. This includes the recruitment of all staff, including the recruitment of health visitors.

We are committed to attracting a diverse range of individuals into nursing careers, including health visiting. NHS Education for Scotland (NES) continues to work with NHS boards and universities to develop resources that promote positive messages of nursing, for both men and women and to widening participation in nursing education. We continue to monitor equality and diversity nationally for all students on nursing and health visiting programmes and this monitoring includes gender.

We are engaging with stakeholders to develop a 2030 Vision for Nursing in Scotland. One of the themes being explored is modernising the public image of nursing to ensure that it is an attractive career choice for all genders and individuals from diverse backgrounds.

Our nationally agreed Partnership Information Network (PIN) policy “Embracing Equality, Diversity and Human Rights” was published in December 2013. The policy is available at http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2013/12/3747.

It is for NHS boards to plan and deliver clinical services and ensure that they have the correct staff in place to meet the needs of their services and ensure high quality patient care. As part of this we expect them to have robust workforce plans and recruitment and retention policies in place which take account of health visitor vacancies and retirements.

In addition the Scottish Government has committed to delivering an additional 500 Health Visitors by 2018, and we have invested £3.3 million since 2014 to support additional training.

Through substantial financial investment and the implementation of successive strategies to improve diagnosis and treatment pathways, Scotland has achieved one of the most effective whole-system approaches to Hepatitis C in the world.

The success of our approach is demonstrated by the decline in Hepatitis C Virus-related liver failure in Scotland from 156 cases in 2014 to 121 in 2015, a 22% reduction. If this trend continues, the Scottish Government is on track to achieve its strategic goal to reduce such disease presentation by 75% by 2020.

SIGN guidelines are distributed within the NHS in Scotland via a network of Guideline Distribution Coordinators in each NHS board. Implementation is the responsibility of each individual NHS board and local ownership of the implementation process is crucial to success in changing practice.

It is not possible to answer, from centrally held information, whether SIGN guidance has directly led to a change in venous thromboembolism (VTE) incidence, the collective name for Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) and Pulmonary Embolism (PE).