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In March 2022 the Scottish Government published the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. Following publication of the strategy, the Scottish Government has established a Workforce Data Information and Intelligence Improvement Programme to support further improvement in data collation, quality and evidence triangulation. This programme is focused specifically on improving the quality and granularity of existing data sets, alongside considering the requirements for gathering new or different data to support better decision making, workforce and service planning.

The Women’s Health Plan sets out actions which aim to address women’s health inequalities by raising awareness around women’s health, improving access to health care for women across their lives, and reducing inequalities in health outcomes for women and girls.

The Plan includes actions to develop a menopause/menstrual health policy for NHS Scotland staff in 2023. I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13514 on 16 January 2023 for an update on the development of a menopause and menstrual health workplace policy for NHS Scotland. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The Plan also contains an action to encourage Health Boards to participate in the Equally Safe at Work accreditation scheme. I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13539 on 23 January 2023 for an update on progress on this action.

The Race Equality Immediate Priorities Plan (IPP) Annex B contains actions under systemic recommendation 4 (Fair Work Practices) to support minority ethnic staff. Data recommendations 10, 11 and 14 also contain actions on monitoring workforce data, NHS workforce data and accountability and governance. These are published online at: .’

Yes. The Scottish Government has analysed the three-year workforce plans produced by Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships. An analysis of key themes and emerging national priorities was subsequently discussed by the National Workforce Forum, which brings together senior government officials from across Health and Social Care Directorates, and representatives from Health Boards and HSCPs. This work has informed the establishment of a suite of priorities for national coordination and action in 2023-24.

As part of the 2021-22 Programme for Government (PfG), the Scottish Government committed to increasing the number of available medical school places by 500 over the lifetime of this Parliament. As part of this commitment we are also doubling the number of places reserved for widening access students from 60 to 120.

We are in the process of delivering this commitment following the creation of 200 additional places which have been distributed between Scotland’s 5 medical schools in the academic years 21-22 and 22-23. The next tranche of 100 will be delivered in 23-24, and the allocation of the final 200 places remain under consideration.

The Centre for Workforce Supply within NHS Education for Scotland was established in November 2021.

Humza Yousaf: ‘Progress has been made with delivery of this commitment, stage one of the design of the portal has been completed and NHS Education Scotland have been commissioned to bring together staff equality networks across NHS Scotland to discuss proposed content, in connection with sharing resources, information and support.’

Our , published on 30 November 2021, is backed by £70m investment and focuses on recovery of services, including Workforce Training and Development.

The National Endoscopy Training Programme (NETP) was established in September 2021 and has recruited staff to deliver endoscopy training to a wide range of learners from different professional backgrounds. This supports the upskilling of practitioners from across Health Boards through a range of courses, including immersion training.

We have also established training programmes for Nurse Endoscopists, Advanced Urology Practitioners and Healthcare Support worker.

The requested information on how many WTE (c) project coordinators and (d) community navigators is not centrally available.

Information on how many WTE (a) clinical psychologists, (b) counsellors (e) assistant psychologists and (f) other posts created to support the health and social care workforce in the last 12 months can be found on the following link .

The Scottish Government is working in conjunction with NES to support the identification of emerging technologies to assist the gap between service demand and capacity within the health and care system, particularly around staff training to enhance skills. Examples include:

• Online training provision within the Scotland Deanery.
• Train-the-trainer for “simulation” training across a number of specialties and in specific procedures, such as in cystoscopy.
• Virtual reality pilots for communications training in handling stressful situations in pre-hospital emergency care and mental health tribunals.
• Mental health simulation training.
• Virtual reality simulators, including six endoscopy simulators in 6 different health boards, alongside a national introductory course covering cancer diagnosis.
• A national urology simulator and learning programme.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10530 on 28 September 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers