The Scottish Parliament’s COVID-19 Recovery Committee has launched a new survey of Scotland’s dentists as part of a snapshot inquiry examining the recovery of NHS dentistry services.
The inquiry will track progress by the Scottish Government on the aims set out in the NHS Recovery Plan 2021-2026, which includes a commitment to return Scotland’s NHS dentistry services to pre-pandemic levels.
Dentists who provide NHS services are being invited to share their views and experiences on the recovery of services through an on-line survey which runs from Friday 5th May to Wednesday 31st May.
The inquiry will also consider the impact of additional funding for equipment and ventilation in NHS dentistry practices and the availability of access to services in communities experiencing health inequalities.
Commenting, Committee Convener, Jim Fairlie MSP said: “The COVID-19 Recovery Committee want to get the root of the issues facing Scotland’s NHS dental recovery in the wake of the pandemic.
“This inquiry will scrutinise the Scottish Government’s commitment to improve the provision of dental services as set out in the Recovery Plan.
“Scotland’s NHS dentists, who work daily on the front-line, are best placed to tell us how services are recovering, and we are encouraging them to share their experiences and views directly with Committee to inform our scrutiny and assist us in tracking progress towards recovery.”
Junior doctors in Scotland have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action over pay following a five week ballot of BMA Scotland members.
With more than 5000 junior doctors in Scotland eligible to vote, turnout was in excess of 71% – with a total of 3610 votes cast, and almost 97% in favour of strike action.
While negotiations with the Scottish Government over pay are ongoing BMA Scotland will use this clear mandate for strike action to push forward in our ongoing efforts to reverse the unacceptable pay erosion junior doctors in Scotland have suffered for more than a decade.
Should the Scottish Government not put forward a credible offer that the BMA believes could be put to members, junior doctors in Scotland would then begin preparations for a 72-hour walkout at dates to be confirmed in due course.
Dr Chris Smith, chair of the BMA’s Scottish Junior Doctors Committee, said: “This ballot result shows, beyond doubt, that junior doctors in Scotland have had enough.
“Years of pay erosion have seen the take home salary of a newly qualified FY1 doctor decline by 23.5% in real-terms compared to 2008, and the pay of an average registrar reduced by 23.9%. This is simply unacceptable, and we are no longer prepared to stand aside, feeling overworked and undervalued, while witnessing so many junior doctors seeking employment abroad or outside the NHS where our considerable skills are properly valued.
“Investing in today’s junior doctors by paying them the salary they deserve is essentially making a down payment on the future of Scotland’s NHS – today’s junior doctors are the GPs, specialist doctors and consultants of the future. Without a serious plan to reverse pay erosion, these doctors will go on leaving Scotland’s NHS, undermining any plans to build a sustainable NHS for generations to come.
“We have made, and continue to make, progress with Scottish Government in formal negotiations on pay, but there is still some work to do before there is an offer that we believe could be credibly put to members.
“In the meantime – we will use this mandate to urge the Cabinet Secretary to signal a clear commitment to investing in the future of Scottish junior doctors, to make Scotland’s NHS an attractive place to train, grow and progress our careers, and show us that the work we do is finally properly, and fairly, valued and appreciated.
“We are not asking for huge pay increases – we are simply asking for a tangible step towards addressing the pay erosion our profession has suffered for well over a decade, combined with a clear plan for this to be reversed and restored.
“Should a credible pay offer not be forthcoming in the wake of this overwhelming mandate, our members are clear that they would have no choice but to stage a 72-hour walkout of all services across Scotland’s NHS.”
Health Secretary Michael Matheson said that he was disappointed with the junior doctors’ ballot decision but said the Scottish Government will continue to negotiatw with BMA Scotland to find a resolution.
‘The Emergency Care system is not functioning as it should’, RCEM says as Emergency Department performance drops
Responding to the latest Emergency Department performance figures for Scotland for March 2023 Dr John-Paul Loughrey, Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland, said: “The data show another drop in performance. This means more patients facing longer waits, more delays to care and more harm.
“We cannot continue to see this occur, we need to be seeing improvements in performance and a reduction in delays to care. This is a signal that the current interventions and actions are not having the time critical impact that we need to be seeing.
“The Scottish Government needs to understand that hesitancy to take the necessary actions will impact on the safety of patients and their care. Emergency care is not functioning as it should, no patient should face a 12-hour wait in an Emergency Department.
“We know what needs to be done: ensuring social care is responsive and able to support the timely discharge of patients; expanding acute bed capacity across Scotland; retaining existing staff while recruiting more staff into Emergency Medicine. These are the solutions laid out in our campaign Five Priorities for UK Governments for #ResuscitatingEmergencyCare.
“We would welcome an opportunity to meet the new Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Michael Matheson MSP, to put forward these solutions and the means to tackle the crisis in Emergency Care. We cannot consider this to be winter pressure anymore; this is year-round, and it continues to cause harm. We must do better for patients and staff, there is no time to delay.”
Aberlour Children’s Charity is today launching a service which offers vital emotional and befriending support to parents impacted by neonatal experiences.
The new Aberlour Perinatal Befriending Service is for families living in the Lothians whose babies are born at 34 weeks’ gestation or later and have received neonatal care through the NICU at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
Following a pilot in the neonatal unit last year, the charity concluded that whilst becoming a new parent can be an exciting and challenging time – parents whose babies have needed specialist neonatal care are at greater risk of increased anxiety and isolation.
It is estimated that parents of babies with a neonatal experience are 40% more likely to develop perinatal mental health difficulties. Parents with neonatal babies born at 34 weeks’ or later were identified as a cohort requiring enhanced support.
Funding secured from the National Lottery Community Fund, East Lothian Council, William Grant Foundation and the Charles Gordon Foundation has enabled Aberlour to establish the new Perinatal Befriending Service.
It aims to connect with parents at the earliest opportunity both in hospital, community or home settings, building relationships to support parents and babies throughout pregnancy and in the first year of baby’s life.
Working in parallel with the charity’s NHS partners, the service will offer in person support from a Perinatal Coordinator, a 1:1 match with a Perinatal Befriender and bespoke digital support all of which connects parents, improves emotional wellbeing, reduces isolation and supports positive relationships between parents and babies. It also recognises the significance of sustaining wider family relationships.
Perinatal befrienders are dedicated trained volunteers who are matched to parents and offer emotional listening support and help accessing services and activities in the community.
The launch of the service coincides with the launch of Aberlour’s Perinatal Connections app. As a result of listening to mums and gathering data, a gap was identified in mental health support services outside normal working hours for new and expectant mums.
The app has been developed to offer a safe, facilitated space for new and expectant mothers supported by Aberlour to connect with each other and access information and resources whenever they wish.
Emma Cashmore-Gordon, Assistant Director at Aberlour, said: “We are thrilled to be able to establish the new Perinatal Befriending Service. It’s great to see all the strands come together and provide greater support – Perinatal Coordinator, Perinatal Befrienders and the new app.
“Knowing that we can help families who have received neonatal care, in particular parents of babies born 34 weeks+ who really will benefit from the enhanced support is amazing. Special thanks to the Pilgrim Trust who funded the pilot and to all our other funders who have helped bring the service to fruition.”
Megan, parent of Rosie, said: “The help I got from the service and the relationship with my befriender was unique. When I look back, I’m a totally different person now, when I have rough times, I can get through a day at a time”.
“Patients continue to face long and dangerous waits as staff continue to be stretched to their limit. Ambulance queues, poor patient flow throughout our hospitals, exit block – where patients are stuck in the system in a ‘traffic jam’ – these remain prevalent across Emergency Departments in Scotland.
“We congratulate the First Minister for Scotland, Humza Yousaf MSP, on his appointment to his new role, and we welcome Michael Matheson MSP (above) to the role of Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care.
“We hope to continue and increase our engagement with the Scottish Government to improve patient care and staff conditions in Emergency Medicine and the wider health service.
“We urge the new Cabinet Secretary to build on the constructive engagement of his predecessor and increase focus on investing in adequate and sufficient social care to discharge patients in a timely way to free up beds.
£Alongside this, we ask him to prioritise expanding acute bed capacity across Scotland and retaining existing staff. These are the short-term priorities for Emergency Care. It would be wrong to take measures to manage demand and reduce attendances on the front door – such measures do nothing to tackle the root causes of long-term problems.
“In the long-term, we urge the new Cabinet Secretary to look at workforce planning and sustained and continued funding and investment in health and social care to ensure we do not reach the troughs of performance and patient care that we saw in 2022.
“We must reduce and eliminate dangerous and unacceptable delays to patient care that we know are associated with patient harm and patient deaths. We would welcome an opportunity to meet with the new Cabinet Secretary to discuss our Five Priorities for UK Governments for #ResuscitatingEmergencyCare.”
Following the election of Humza Yousaf as SNP leader and his swearing in as First Minister, dentist leaders in Scotland have called for immediate action to ensure the beleaguered service has a future.
The leadership election has delayed the timetable for reform of the low margin/high volume system dentists work to, that has left providers facing the risk of delivering NHS care at a financial loss. In an open letter the British Dental Association has stressed that without immediate action the exodus from NHS dentistry will accelerate.
A recent survey of high street dentists across Scotland showed over half (59%) have reduced the amount of NHS work they do since lockdown, and four in five (83%) say they plan to reduce or further reduce their NHS commitment in the year ahead.
In the letter BDA’s Scottish leadership state: “In 2021 the SNP made a promise to the Scottish electorate: free NHS dentistry for all. The decisions you take in your first 100 days will effectively determine if that promise is going to be kept.”
Healthcare staff will begin to benefit from largest overall investment in Agenda for Change pay in a single year from next month, following unions’ unanimous agreement.
160,000 NHS staff – including nurses, midwives, paramedics, allied health professionals, porters and others – will receive an average 6.5% increase in pay in 2023-24.
This £568 million deal includes a commitment to deliver the most progressive package of terms and conditions reform in decades and support for workforce recruitment, sustainability and retention.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “I am very pleased that the Agenda for Change trade unions have unanimously agreed to accept this pay offer, meaning staff will start seeing the benefits of this deal in their April pay packets.
“This £568 million deal that will ensure NHS Agenda for Change staff remain, by far and away, the best paid anywhere in the UK. We are also committed to delivering the most progressive package of terms and conditions reform in decades.
“Our healthcare staff have shown how dedicated and hardworking they are time and again and I cannot thank them enough for their commitment, particularly over the last few challenging years. Our staff are the very backbone of the NHS and we are committed to supporting them, particularly during a cost of living crisis.
“I am grateful for the continued efforts to keep discussions going to reach this deal and that this has been able to be processed in time to get the money to staff so quickly.
A total of £568 million has been committed for Agenda for Change pay in 2023-24. This equates to an average uplift of at least 6.5% for all staff at Band 8a and below.
All staff will also receive a one-off pro rata payment of between £387 and £939 depending on banding.
The offer also reaffirms previous commitments to work to reduce the working week, protect learning time and review band 5 job nursing profiles.
Examples of increases over the two years (2022-23 and 2023-24):
experienced porters (band 2) receive more than £3,750 extra (19.1%)
experienced healthcare support workers (band 4) receive more than £4,000 extra.
experienced AHPs (band 5) receive more than £4,700 extra (14.4%)
experienced paramedics (band 6) receive more than £5,360 extra (13.2%)
experienced advance nurse practitioners (band 7) receive more than £5,900 extra (12.4%)
A nurse and her daughter who work at the same hospital have both told how they love being part of the NHS family – and how proud they are of each other for the work they do.
Geraldine Sparkes is lead nurse for the Acute Medical Unit and Medical Assessment Unit at the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) in Paisley, and 18-year-old Gemma is a Health Care Support Worker on Ward 10.
They live together in Paisley with dad Trevor and nine-year-old daughter Mirren, and the whole family is spending Mother’s Day together.
The pair travel together to work every morning – stopping on the way for a coffee that’s “totally essential” according to Gemma – but because of Gemma’s shifts it’s quite unusual for them to get time off together, and Geraldine is really excited because of that.
“We’re all going out for a steak dinner, and I’m looking forward to spending the day together. I think it will be really special.”
What Geraldine doesn’t know is that Gemma “sweet-talked her boss” to be able to spend time with her mum. “It’s great that we’ll all be able to celebrate Mother’s Day together this year. I’ve got a few wee bits for mum, and Mirren loves arts and crafts so she’s been doing lots. I think it will be a lovely day.”
Geraldine, 38, has only been a nurse for eight years, after deciding to change career to care for patients. She juggled her training with her day job, as well as doing bank shifts to get additional experience, and she is now passionate about the NHS, the RAH and being a nurse.
She said: “There’s no denying that nursing has its challenges just now, but I feel so strongly that it’s a wonderful job. There are so many different roles in the NHS that once you’re part of the NHS family the world’s really your oyster.
“I’d encourage any young person to come and work with us – and especially at the RAH! Working locally is great – we really feel part of the community, and to be supporting neighbours and friends is the best feeling.”
But it’s when she starts speaking about Gemma that her pride really shows.
“I’m so proud of her. She’s been working since she was 16 and has a great work ethic. It’s great to see her in a full-time job, and hopefully it will be the start of a great career for her.
“When she first started at the hospital she was quite apprehensive, but she’s hit the ground running and I’ve been told she’s doing really well and has a great way with patients and relatives.”
Gemma has only been a HCSW since November, but she’s loving her time at the RAH. “It’s a great place to work,” she said. “I really feel like a part of the team. Everyone is so helpful – and not just the people at my grade but everyone, right up to the managers.
“I love working here and I’m really proud of the NHS. I’m always telling my friends to go for it, that working here is really worth it.”
But she admits working with her mum has taken her a bit by surprise. “It’s really weird! At home she’s my mum, but I see a completely different side of her when she’s working. She’s so committed and professional – she takes the care of her patients so seriously.
“In fact I’m really proud of her.”
Geraldine feels very lucky to be sharing today with her family, and she has one final message.
“Happy Mother’s Day to all mums today – and special thanks to my colleagues at the RAH who are on duty caring for our patients, or any other mums who are working. You’re all doing an amazing job.”
“While it is true that the data for January 2023 show improvements when compared with December 2022, December was the worst month on record. We are relieved that we have mitigated against a repetition of December, but we remain extremely concerned about our patients and their safety, and for the welfare of staff who are struggling.
“January saw continued high numbers of extremely long waits; the third highest number of 12-hour waits on record. While the weekly data from February also show that we cannot let up in our requirement for substantial improvement.
“As the Scottish leadership election begins, tackling the crisis in Emergency Care as well as the crisis in the wider health and social care system must be a priority for the next First Minister. In 2022, a total of 55,095 patients waited 12-hours or more in an Emergency Department in Scotland.
“Analysis by the College shows that consequently, in 2022, there were an estimated 765 patient deaths associated with these dangerously long waiting times – equal to an estimated average of 64 each month. This is entirely unacceptable and a marker of a system that is not functioning as it should.
“To tackle this, in Scotland we urgently need a restoration of the acute bed base, that means opening an additional 1,000 staffed acute beds where safely possible.
“There are also significant shortfalls of staff in Scotland. The Emergency Medicine workforce needs at least 100 more consultants, as well as senior decision makers, ACPs/ANPs/Physician Associates, junior doctors, and vital nurses.
“We welcomed the expansion of Emergency Medicine medical training places in Scotland by 10, but this expansion is considerably short of what is required and there has yet to be any commitment to maintain this each year.
“This winter continues to be the most challenging yet for the NHS in Scotland. A failure for meaningful action now will prolong the risk to patient safety and maintain these dangerously long waiting times at the detriment to staff who are already burned out and exhausted. 2023 must be the year that we see political will translated into action that improves patient care and conditions for staff.”
