Chamber and committees

Published in December 2021, the NHS gender identity services: strategic action framework 2022-2024 outlined actions to improve access, and delivery of, NHS gender identity services.

A description of the range of work referred to in the answer to question S6W-13576 is included in the 21 November 2022 letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care to the Convener of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14269 on 7 February 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14269 on 7 February 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

We are working in partnership across the UK to explore the safe use of AI within health and social care. AI is currently being utilised in the NHS to support clinicians by making data driven recommendations in areas like cancer screening and other medical imaging practices.

The Scottish Government is also currently considering how the specific needs of AI can be built into our wider work on data to provide the right infrastructure and support service that enables the adoption of AI solutions within the NHS. Further details on this will be set out in the forthcoming Data Strategy for Health & Social Care, including on the ethical and transparent use of AI.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information as this module is owned and hosted by NHS Education for Scotland.

There are currently no plans for the Network Support Grant to end in March 2023. The Network Support Grant replaced both BSOG and emergency COVID support grants from 1 April 2022.

The Network Support Grant Plus was always a temporary fund, designed to further support operators as we emerged from the pandemic, due to the pressure still experienced, and to aid recovery. The Network Support Grant Plus was extended in both July and October, coming to an end in March brings us into line with the end of the funding in England and Wales.

It is important that the support we give transport operators continues to evolve to make sure it remains fit for purpose and is sustainable long term. Support is also provided to bus operators through our concessionary travel schemes which allows free bus travel to all children and young people under 22 as well as disabled people and everyone over 60. We also provide support to operators to decarbonise their bus fleet, assisting them with the purchase of zero emission buses and charging infrastructure through our Scottish Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme and the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund.

The intent of the Network Support Grant is to support the bus network and it is up to operators to use their own commercial judgement and decide which individual routes they run in the open de-regulated market, as established by the Transport Act 1985. Scottish Ministers have no powers to intervene.

The eLearning module, “Equality and the Role of Board Members in Meeting the Public Sector Duty”, is available through NHS Education for Scotland. While this is not a mandatory module, it is recommended to all Board Members. This was promoted to NHS Board Chairs in July 2022 and all NHS Board members and staff can access the module.

We know that deprivation is a significant driver of excess mortality and reduced life expectancy. Reducing poverty and inequality therefore sits at the heart of our investment across all portfolios and remains the best way of improving life expectancy.

Increasing life expectancy across Scotland remains a clear ambition for this Government and we are using all the powers and resources available to us to create a fairer Scotland. We are doing that by ensuring health services are accessible to all, committing £19bn to public services over the next year; committing £4 billion in social security and welfare payments over the next financial year; and extending the Scottish Child Payment to families with eligible under 16s – by increasing it to £25 per week per child.

Furthermore, our Care and Wellbeing Portfolio, as the principle strategic reform vehicle in Health and Social Care, is being designed to promote a ‘health in all policies’ approach in order to strengthen cross-government collaboration on key and critical issues that contribute to the goal of reducing inequalities and increasing life expectancy.

Following the successful completion of a two-year Scotland-wide pilot in 2022, the new fast-track Prescribed Blue Badge model for people with motor neurone disease (MND) was launched on 9 May 2022 via the provision of updated guidance for local authorities.

MND specialist nurses in Scotland now have the power to prescribe a Blue Badge for people with an MND diagnosis should their MND specialist nurse deem them as meeting the eligibility criteria. This means that such applicants can bypass the Local Authority assessment process and experience significantly shorter waiting times.

The Women’s Health Plan focusses on a specific set of priorities including enhancing care and support for those with endometriosis. Whilst chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs) are not specifically mentioned in the priorities for this iteration of the Plan, we recognise that many women are significantly affected by the condition.

In addition, we have commissioned the Health and Social Care Alliance to take forward a programme of work on lived experience in order to put the voices of women at the heart of the Plan.

We recognise that research is essential if we are to increase our understanding of endometriosis and develop new and effective approaches to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of this debilitating condition. That is why we are jointly funding a £250,000 research project with Wellbeing of Women, which aims to develop improvements into treatment and management options for the condition.

We will raise awareness and support the implementation of the new Endometriosis Referral Pathway for NHS Scotland developed by the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme. The Pathway aims to ensure those with endometriosis receive individualised treatment in relation to their symptoms by improving earlier intervention and support within primary care, streamline referrals to secondary and tertiary care where required.

Our Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal Plan, backed by £70m investment, was published on 30 November 2021 and focusses on key areas such as Balancing Demand and Capacity; Workforce Training and Development; and Infrastructure Innovation and Redesign. This will be achieved through the implementation of key actions that are focused on reducing the waiting times back to the 6-week target during the life time of this Parliament.

In addition, in July last year, we introduced ambitious targets for NHS Scotland to address the backlog of planned care, undoubtedly exacerbated by the pandemic. We are working intensively with NHS Boards to maximise capacity and to clear remaining waits as soon as possible, with a specific focus on specialities and areas where there are larger amounts of people waiting, including Urology.