NHS Dumfries and Galloway data: FOI release

Information requested

1. Please provide the to date performance data for NHS Dumfries and Galloway against the best of NHS Scotland Boards ( whichever one you would determine has the best performance, to be used as a benchmark - to include the following
a) Electives
b) Unscheduled Care
c) ED waiting times
d) Cancer waiting times

2. Please provide the actual budget provided to NHS Dumfries and Galloway for specifically Cancer Care in the last 5 years.

3. Please advise as to the total amount the Board is in debt to date. This is to include monies provided by SG to offset the debt.

4) Please provide the qualifications required by SG to become a CEO and a General Manager as determined by your Government. Please provide the regulation relied upon by SG to appoint managers within NHS Boards. Please provide a copy of SG Fit and Proper criteria for appointments to this level.

5) Please provide SG position statement in relation to infection control and the use of doubling up single bedded rooms and the evidence to support this risk.

6) Please provide the authorising officer in relation to the sign off these risks as detailed above.

7) Please provide a copy of SG briefing to Government in relation to these matters.

Response

We have interpreted question 6 as referencing the risks outlined in question 5.

We have interpreted question 7 as also referencing to question 5 and relating to any briefings to Ministers regarding the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual from its re-launch in 2022 to the date we received your FOI request (26 February 2024).

1. All of the information you have requested is available online, enabling comparison and benchmarking across NHS boards: details and links of where this information can be found are provided below. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the websites listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

a) Elective care performance data for all Boards, including NHS Dumfries and Galloway, is published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) on a regular basis.

Publications include the:

• quarterly Stage of Treatment publication; provides information on the waiting times for specialities by Board for new outpatients and inpatient /day case procedures:
• quarterly Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information; provides information on quarterly trends in outpatient activity; inpatient and day case activity (planned and unplanned) and bed statistics.
• annual Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information (annual): as above
• monthly Cancelled Operations publications; provides information on the number of cancellations by Board and by type of cancellation.
• quarterly NHS waiting times – diagnostics: provides information on the number of ongoing waits for one of eight key diagnostics tests.
• quarterly NHS waiting times – 18 weeks referral to treatment (RTT); provides information on completed patient pathways that are fully measurable against the 18 weeks RTT standard

b/c) Information about unscheduled care and ED waiting times for all NHS boards can be found on the PHS website:
Accident and emergency - Urgent and unscheduled care - Acute and emergency services - Our areas of work - Public
Health Scotland.

d) The most recently published cancer waiting times data for all NHS boards can be found here: Cancer waiting times - 1 July to 30 September 2023 - Cancer waiting times - Publications - Public Health Scotland

2. The Scottish Government does not hold some of the information you have requested NHS Dumfries and Galloway receives consolidated funding as part of the Scottish Budget, and determine their overall spend on cancer care locally. The Scottish Government however has also provided additional discretionary funding as is listed below towards cancer care:

FY	Specific funding to support cancer care
2023-24	£718,781
2022-23	£583,121
2021-22	£941,434
2020-21	£558,700
2019-20	£207,200

3. All of the information you have requested is available from the sources below. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the websites listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

The Scottish Government publish Health Boards’ financial positions for each year. The information on NHS Dumfries & Galloway’s financial position is available from NHSScotland and Integration Authorities consolidated financial reporting - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

With regards to Scottish Government support for debt, this information is presented within the Board’s Annual Accounts, which is available to download from www.nhsdg.co.uk or alternatively a copy can be obtained by contacting the Communications Department at dgcommunications@nhs.scot.

4. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. Therefore, you may wish to contact the Boards who may be able to help, contact details for Scotland’s Health Boards can be found at Health bodies - National public bodies: directory - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). The reasons why we don’t have the information are explained in the Annex to this letter.

Some of the information you have requested is available from the sources detailed below. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the websites listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

The Safer pre and post employment checks policy for NHSScotland sets a minimum standard for the undertaking of checking procedures required for the entry of all posts in NHSScotland. This policy is currently being reviewed under the Workforce Policies Programme | NHS Scotland.

5. As our national clinical infection prevention and control (IPC) experts, Antimicrobial Resistance Healthcare Associated Infection (ARHAI) Scotland is responsible for providing expert intelligence, support, advice, evidence-based guidance, clinical assurance and clinical leadership in relation to IPC and healthcare associated infections. ARHAI have developed and maintain the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual (NIPCM) which provides IPC guidance to all those involved in care provision and is considered best practice across all health and care settings in Scotland. The NIPCM contains guidance on bed spacing requirements.

The Scottish Government has no ownership or control over the content held within the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual (NICPM). Please contact ARHAI Scotland if you would like further information on the processes involved in the development and maintenance of the NIPCM including information on bed spacing. ARHAI Scotland can be contacted at NSS.HPSInfectionControl@nhs.scot.

The Scottish Government expects NHS Scotland Boards to comply with the NIPCM. When an organisation uses products or adopts practices that differ from those stated in this NIPCM, that individual organisation is responsible for ensuring risk-based decisions are made whilst ensuring safe systems of work including the completion of a risk assessment approved through local governance procedures.

6. The Scottish Government does not provide sign off in relation to risk-based decision making at Board level on IPC decisions and risk management. The Board is responsible for ensuring safe systems of work including the completion of a risk assessment approved through local governance procedures.

7. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. The request may be reduced by further specifying the type of the correspondence, such as copies of publications and reports, or communications between a particular Health Board in which you are interested, or by narrowing the timeframe. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner’s ‘Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs’ on their website at: How do I ask for information? | Scottish Information Commissioner (itspublicknowledge.info).

ANNEX

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

Question 4

The Scottish Government does not have the information

The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because the qualifications and criteria for CEO and General Manager roles are decided locally by Health Boards.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.