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The Scottish Government have made the following funding available to the Digital Health Institute/Glasgow School of Art for organising workshops and reports on 12 NHS disciplines to aid the Scottish Access Collaborative’s plans in:

(a) 2017-18 - Nil.

(b) 2018-19 - £373,000

(c) to date in 2019-20 -£10,000

The level of need for social care support varies between local areas depending on population and other local factors. Social care support assessments carried out by local authorities include whether a person requires personal care elements. The Scottish Government does not obtain local information relating to specific volumes of social care support assessment applications/referrals. You may wish to contact the local authorities directly to ask if this information is available.

This is the first year of this policy and we are working closely with Health and Social Care Partnerships and COSLA to monitor its impact, including costs and funding. A summary of our findings will be published in due course.

We are working closely with Health and Social Care partnerships and COSLA to monitor the costs of the extension of the free personal care policy and this will help to inform future funding allocations.

The Scottish Government will publish its spending plans in due course as part of the Scottish Budget.

The following table provides the financial allocation by Local Authority in 2019/20 for the extension of Free Personal Care to under 65s.

Transport Scotland expects to have received all quotations related to the installation of ice sensor equipment this month. Evaluation of quotations will take place in early January and equipment will be installed as soon as possible thereafter. In the meantime, the bridge Operating Company (Amey) has robust procedures in place and will be monitoring the Queensferry Crossing to ensure the continued safety of road users.

The Scottish Government funds the NHS Research Scotland Dementia and Neuro-progressive Research Network to support eligibly funded and commercial clinical studies hosted by the NHS in Scotland.

Researchers based in Scotland can also apply for funding to the Chief Scientist Office’s funding committees. Details of these are available from the CSO website https://www.cso.scot.nhs.uk/funding-2/response-mode-funding-schemes/ .

Scotland has a wide range of researchers in this field and our commitment in Programme for Government to establish Scotland's Brain Health Centre - the first of its kind - will help enhance focus on dementia research, including in the area of prevention.

The Scottish Government does not routinely comment on the work of individual researchers.

Advances in dementia research require sustained global effort. Scotland has a wide range of researchers in this field and our commitment in Programme for Government to establish Scotland's Brain Health Centre - the first of its kind - will help enhance focus on dementia research, including in the area of prevention.

We also fund the NHS Research Scotland Dementia and Neuro-progressive Research Network to support eligibly funded and commercial clinical studies hosted by the NHS here.

Researchers can also apply for funding to the Chief Scientist Office’s funding committees. Details of these are available from the CSO website https://www.cso.scot.nhs.uk/funding-2/response-mode-funding-schemes/ .

The NHS in Scotland continues to invest in improving our approach to the dispensing of medicine in hospitals, such as in the use of robotic dispensing systems. The Scottish Government has identified the implementation of Hospital Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (HEPMA) as the priority focus to reduce medication errors and improve patient safety and we expect all NHS Boards to implement HEPMA in the next 3-5 years.

However, it is essential that we consider all emerging digital opportunities to further improve patient safety and medicines reconciliation processes. Whilst automated medicine cabinets are not widely available in Scotland at present the Scottish Government will consider the forthcoming research from the Centre for Medication Safety and Service Quality (CMSSQ) who are conducting an independent academic study into the benefits of cabinet technology within UK hospitals. This research is expected to evaluate automated medication cabinets in terms of their effect on medication errors, financial savings, productivity improvement and workforce efficiencies.

The Scottish Government committed to publishing the data provided by NHS Boards, which informed the report “Findings of Scottish Specialist Pain Workforce Study early in the New Year and we are on track to meet this commitment.

On behalf of the National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain (NACCP), the Deputy Chief Medical Officer commissioned Scottish NHS Boards to provide information about the quantity of different healthcare professionals working within specialist pain services across Scotland, as well as qualitative information about recruitment/ retention challenges and succession planning for this workforce group. This work was supported by Officials in the Scottish Government’s Planning and Quality Division.

The subsequent report ’Findings of Scottish Specialist Pain Workforce Study’ was produced by officials across the Health and Social Care Directorate with analytical support.