Seòmar agus comataidhean

Scottish Government officials from the European Structural Funds and State Aid Division maintain regular dialogue by email, phone and in person with the European Commission regarding the European Social Fund.

Officials from the Scottish Government met officials from the European Commission in Brussels on 14 June 2019 to discuss the European Social Fund.

The information requested on how many occupational therapists have been employed in health and social care is not centrally available. National workforce data records how many occupational therapists are employed by each health board but does not separate out those who work in health and social care.

The number of Occupational Therapists working in NHSScotland can be found in the Allied Health Professions dashboard on the ISD website available here:

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2019-06-04/AHP.asp

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/ .

Delivering person-centred care is a strategic priority for NHSScotland and the Scottish Government. Working in partnership with people who use health and social care services, their families and carers, to deliver care which meets their needs, is a vital part of our 2020 Vision for Health and Social Care.

Occupational Therapy is one of the twelve Allied Health Professions (AHPs) regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council with staff working across health, social care and housing. Occupational Therapists take a ‘whole person’ approach with people, addressing their health and wellbeing to support them to achieve their potential and what matters to them. Occupational Therapists are ‘dual trained’ in physical and mental health and can therefore work across both at point of qualification.

This professional ethos, knowledge and skillset underpins Occupational Therapy in all settings where staff work, so that a person centred approach is fundamental to interventions and support. The focus on ‘occupation’ – meaningful and purposeful activities unique to each individual – means that Occupational Therapists are well placed to devise, deliver and lead on personalised approaches to care. The developing ‘general specialist’ and Advanced Practitioner roles are seeing occupational therapy make a greater impact in empowering communities around prevention and wellbeing.

The Allied Health Professions Active and Independent Living Programme (AILP), which concludes in 2020, put the personal outcomes approach at the heart of its vision and this has enabled occupational therapists to lead and develop new and innovative personalised care responses. This includes delivering a tiered approach within children’s’ services which focus on the child or young person’s wellbeing which has seen support delivered closer, faster and more effectively to the child/young person without an increase in waiting times; work within forensic and secure settings equipping prisoners to develop daily living skills and thereby preventing re-offending; developing support for people around work – getting into, staying and getting back into employment – with the positive impact on health and wellbeing, and leading on aspects of health and social care integration particularly around support for older adults.

The following table shows how many people have received an option one of self-directed support since 2014-15.

Number of option one clients - Scotland

The Scottish Government has reviewed the operation of self-directed support via the scrutiny from the Audit Scotland (in 2014 and 2017 progress report); the Care Inspectorate (thematic review 2019) and as a regular part of implementation support for the 10 year strategy.

The Scottish Parliament’s Post Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee also undertook post-legislative scrutiny on the Act in 2017.

The Self-directed Support Implementation Plan 2019-2021 and the larger programme of adult social care reform are designed to address the recommendations of these reviews. Detail of these can be found at these websites: https://www.gov.scot/publications/self-directed-support-strategy-2010-2020-implementation-plan-2019-21/ and https://www.gov.scot/publications/social-care-support-investment-scotlands-people-society-economy-programme-framework-partnership-programme-support-local-reform-adult-social-care/ .

Following close working with COSLA and partnerships to estimate the total national investment needed, £30 million was identified in order to support the delivery of this policy. This was part of an additional £160 million funding package which has been made available to support social care and integration, and school counselling services.

The level of need for social care support varies between local areas depending on population and other local factors. This is the first year of the extension of Free Personal Care to under 65s, and we are working closely with partnerships and COSLA to monitor the costs. This will inform future funding allocations.

The funding for the extension of Free Personal Care was part of an additional £160 million health portfolio funding that was made available via Local Authorities to support social care and integration as part of the 2019-20 Budget. It is for statutory partners to manage their budgets and allocate the total financial resources available to them, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The funding for the extension of Free Personal Care was linked to the stipulation that local authority social care budgets for allocation to Integration Authorities and funding for school counselling services this year must be at least £160 million more than in 2018-19. This ensures that even where areas have received funding for Free Personal Care that is beyond their currently projected levels of demand in this first year, funding for social care overall must increase.

This settlement means that personal care is now free for anyone in Scotland who is assessed as eligible. Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to ensure that personal care is no longer charged to the individual.

The following table provides the allocation by Local Authority for the extension of Free Personal Care to under 65s

The following table shows budget expenditure for option one in Scotland since 2014-15.

Data for 2014-15 to 2016-17 has been obtained from the Social Care Survey conducted by the Scottish Government. From 2017-18, responsibility for collecting social care data was transferred to ISD Scotland.

The previous Social Care Survey conducted by the Scottish Government only collected expenditure data on gross costs. Following the transfer of responsibility for collecting social care data to ISD Scotland, local authorities were able to return either or both gross or net expenditure. In order to be comparable to previous years, an estimation has calculated for those areas returning only net expenditure in 2017-18.

Budget expenditure for option one - Scotland

The Scottish Government is aware that some areas have not required their full allocation to extend Free Personal Care to all ages. If the full allocation is not expected to be required in 2019-20, local authorities have confirmed that they are meeting their statutory obligations. Local Authorities will monitor the situation throughout the year and re-profile funding as necessary, should demand for Free Personal Care increase beyond their current planning.