Seòmar agus comataidhean

Initial work to capture the position of learning and development in digital skills has been undertaken. This will help inform our review of governance and the associated programme for digital capabilities across health and care.

Yes. Our National Information Governance Plan has been established in support of the Data Strategy for Health and Social Care, based on the recommendations of the Information Governance Review. The overall work includes a refresh of the Information Governance Framework.

The Scottish Government actively promotes cyber security to reduce the risk of cyber-attacks and protect against the unauthorised exploitation of systems, networks, and technologies. This has included the creation of NHS Scotland’s Cyber Centre of Excellence (CCoE), which opened in December 2022 in Abertay Universities cyberQuarter.

Working with the CCoE, we continue to prioritise the use security capabilities of existing technologies and deployment of new security tools. This approach allows real time discovery of vulnerabilities and potential issues across a national view.

The Cyber Centre of Excellence is complimented by the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre (SC3) which will be a key partner, enhancing our national incident response capacity and capabilities.

This is in addition to the annual NIS audit of NHS boards to ensure their current practices are up to date and that their responses reflect current best practice.

The Leading in the Digital Age Board Development Workshops has undergone two stages of development. The first stage was the design of the content which involved engaging with users and stakeholders to inform the resources required and workshop content. The next stage has involved training the facilitators and further development of content. This work is now moving into the testing phase.

Phase 1 of Mind to Mind is complete and offers people short videos on how people living with mental health conditions manage them and signposts to support services. We are currently scoping a second phase which is anticipated to include more diversity of lived experiences and a focus on self-help and self-care.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18798 on 20 June 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government, NHS Scotland and our partners have an ongoing commitment to developing UK and international collaborations. This includes active participation in European and International networks as well as hosting of inward study visits to Scotland and outward visits to international partners. Inward visits include from the Netherlands, Denmark, Andalucia, Wales, World Health Organisation (Georgia and Macedonia) and Spain.

The Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre (DHI) play a key role in supporting inward investment opportunities. This has included:

Work on the National Care Service Bill continues as it progresses through the parliamentary process. The Bill allows Ministers to set out, in secondary legislation, the details of a scheme to support information sharing so services can be provided effectively and efficiently by, and on behalf of, NCS and NHS. Second, the Bill will also allow Ministers to set out information standards so there is a consistent approach to how information is defined, stored and reported.

However, prior to conclusion of the bill, and in support of the introduction of data standards, COSLA and the Scottish Government are currently in the process of convening a Data Standards Board for health and social care. This will allow us to create clear governance regarding the preferred data standards for use across the sector.

COSLA and The Scottish Government published our Data Strategy for Health and Social Care which has committed to setting out the preferred information standards for use across Scotland’s health and social care sector. Scottish Government will seek to align with international and UK defined standards to facilitate interoperability and bring consistency to the ways in which clinical information is recorded. Work is progressing to implement SNOMED CT in health settings (with a new Ontology server now operational), alongside the recent implementation of ICD 11 codes in mental health. Furthermore, work is now underway to stand up a Data Standards board for Scotland’s health and care data in summer 2023.

Applications closed on the 15 January with 72 applications in total received. Following a rigorous panel selection 48 applicants were successful in obtaining a place on the programme. The MSc programme launched in March and is constructed to provide the 48 participants with the opportunity to achieve Certificate, Diploma, or Masters level accreditation as they progress. Programme participants represent 31 organisations across the health and care sector. The first module, 'Fundamentals of Leading Digital Transformation' commenced in April.