Introduction
This paper provides a summary of NHS Golden Jubilee’s progress against the duties of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) legislation in line with requirements for local reporting.
The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act came into effect on 1 April 2024. The Act is applicable to all clinical professional groups, and places specific duties on Health Boards, care service providers, Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), the Care Inspectorate and Scottish Ministers.
Since this commenced, Health Boards must now comply with several reporting requirements, which are detailed below.
1. High-Cost Agency Use – Boards must submit quarterly reports to Scottish Government; containing:
- Details of the number of occasions agency workers costing 150% or more than the cost of a substantive equivalent were required.
- Percentage cost of such (above normal pay rate).
- Rationale for use. This detail is required for every shift and must be signed off by both Executive Nurse and Medical Directors.
2. The Executive Nurse and Medical Directors are required to report to the Board governance groups on a quarterly basis to detail the level of compliance against the legislation for the range of clinical professional groups for which they have executive responsibility, and the progress in improving compliance. This paper is the third of these reports.
3. Health Boards must submit annual reports to Scottish Ministers at the end of each fiscal year to detail compliance with the Act, high-cost agency use and any identified severe and recurrent risks. The first report is due to return to Scottish government on 23 April 2025. Scottish Ministers must then report on legislative compliance and offer recommendations to the Scottish Parliament
