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A set of data tables for the most recent and historical hospital bed numbers is available in the annual PHS publication, which was released on 27 September 2022. The publications can be found at: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-annual/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-annual-annual-year-ending-31-march-2022/

Data is available from financial year 2012-13 to financial year 2021-22. Data is not available as far back as 1999. Data is not yet available for financial year 2022-23.

Hospital beds data is presented in Table 4 – beds data file, and the measure of interest is Average Available Staffed Beds, the indicator is Location of Interest, and you will need to Sub-Filter for All Specialties. The data for Portree Hospital will be listed under NHS Highland. The following table is an excerpt from the dataset which includes the Average Available Staffed Beds for All Locations of Treatment, NHS Highland, and Portree Hospital.

Improving access for women to appropriate support, speedy diagnosis and best treatment for endometriosis is one of the priorities set out in the Women’s Health Plan for 2021-24.

The Endometriosis Pathway for Scotland, created by the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme, was approved in January 2023 and has been shared in draft format with NHS Boards. The pathway, which is adapted from NICE guidelines, provides a streamlined, integrated pathway across primary, secondary and tertiary care that aims to provide a holistic approach and timely care for those with endometriosis and endometriosis-like symptoms. The pathway will be uploaded to the Centre for Sustainable Delivery’s (CfSD) website in the near future, at which point it will be formally shared widely across NHS Scotland.

In addition, to improve access to the most accurate and relevant information on endometriosis, we have updated the NHS Inform endometriosis page. This includes a link to the NICE Guidelines, to ensure the public are aware of current national guidelines.

The Scottish Government recognises the value of encouraging pupils to pursue a career in healthcare. We have commissioned the Centre for Workforce Supply to develop an NHS Scotland marketing strategy to promote the NHS as an attractive employer.

We remain committed to supporting youth recruitment utilising our Developing the Young Workforce Strategy and the Young Person’s Guarantee.

We also support any initiative which encourages school pupils to consider a career in medicine. For example, Aberdeen University’s ‘Health Studies in Education’ programme which places medical students in local schools for a period of 6 weeks has been successful in establishing long term relationships between schools and the University, as well as providing a platform to introduce further activities including mentoring.

We will give full consideration to the recommendations of this report, which sets out both the challenges, and successes, of the continued recovery of our NHS from a global pandemic.

We are making good progress against our GP commitment and since 2017 GP headcount has increased by 291 and a record 5209 GPs are now working in Scotland.

Progress is measured by the annual GP Headcount Public Health Scotland publication. The latest publication can be found at:

General Practice - GP Workforce and practice list sizes 2012 - 2022 - General Practice - GP workforce and practice list sizes - Publications - Public Health Scotland

The assessment by Audit Scotland does not take into account GP Registrars in their final year of training, when assessing progress against this commitment. These registrars spend 12 months full time equivalent in a GP practice.

The Scottish Government provides local authorities with funding to allow them to deliver their statutory duty to ensure all eligible children can access 1140 hours of high-quality funded early learning and childcare. Scottish Government officials have spoken to Glasgow City Council regarding the closure of Rising Stars, and the Council's early years team is supporting families with children who attend these settings to discuss suitable alternatives - including through one-to-one support where required.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering the grade separation of Sheriffhall roundabout, as part of its £300 million commitment to the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal.

Following publication of the draft Orders and Environmental Statement, Transport Scotland received a significant number of objections to the proposed scheme. Although Transport Scotland engaged widely with objectors, it was unable to resolve all objections. In view of this, a Public Local Inquiry was held from 31 January to 8 February 2023. As with all trunk road projects this is the appropriate statutory forum for considering objections received and not withdrawn. The independent Reporter is now giving detailed consideration to all evidence before making recommendations to the Scottish Ministers for a decision.

Construction of the proposed scheme can only commence if it is approved under the relevant statutory authorisation process and thereafter a timetable for its progress can be set.

Together with Public Health Scotland, the Scottish Government is developing a consensus statement on substance use prevention for young people. This will provide an agreed expert view and understanding in where our collective efforts should lie in improving practice and associated outcomes for children and young people. It will be used to support planning and delivery at a national and local level, and will include consideration of the specific needs of care experienced children and young people.

The Scottish Government’s whole family approach to drug and alcohol services is supported by our annual investment of £3.5 million through Alcohol and Drug Partnerships. Additional funding, such as the £3 million Children and Families Fund administered through the Corra Foundation, is in place to improve support for children, young people and families impacted by drug use.

The Scottish Respiratory Advisory Committee (SRAC) has identified pulmonary rehabilitation as one of the initial priorities for the implementation of the Respiratory Care Action Plan.

To take forward this key priority, a sub-group has been established comprised of clinical specialists and services managers from across Scotland, as well as third sector representatives. The group have completed a scoping exercise to determine areas of good practice and areas that require improvement. The aim of this group will be to develop ‘best practice guidelines’ for the delivery of pulmonary rehabilitation services across Scotland. This work is also being supported by the respiratory programmes managed by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery.

The necessary pause to face to face pulmonary rehab groups during the pandemic has inevitably led to a build-up of people waiting for treatment, and services continue to experience significant pressure as a result of this.

Our NHS Recovery Plan, published in August 2021, backed by over £1 billion of funding, sets out our vision for health and social care over the next 5 years, and will support the increase in access to services such as pulmonary rehabilitation.

The number of district nurses working in NHS Scotland in each of the last five years can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence .

The Scottish Government does not direct NHS Boards to ensure that their district nurses and their teams undertake routine, planned visits to over 65s, however it is possible that such visits take place in some parts of the country. The roles of district nurses and their teams was described in the Transforming Roles District Nursing paper, which can be found here Supporting documents - Transforming nursing, midwifery and health professionals roles: district nursing roles - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The remit of the Women’s Health Champion is to drive change and share best practice and innovation in the improvement of health services and health outcomes for women. Professor Glasier will work with partners in the NHS and across the public and third sectors to drive forward the ambitions, aims and actions in the Women’s Health Plan. Professor Glasier’s particular priorities were set out in the recently published report on progress and include specialist menopause services, menstrual health with a focus on endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome, and heart health.

The Champion is a member of the Women's Health Plan Implementation Programme Board which has been established to oversee and drive the delivery of the Plan.

Professor Glasier is scheduled to attend the next Women’s Health Cross Party Group on 22 March 2023. In addition a number of introductory meetings with both individuals and organisations have already taken place, with more arranged for the coming weeks. Any requests should be directed to womenshealthchampion@gov.scot.