Chamber and committees

There has been significant pressure on mental health services throughout the pandemic, and the Scottish Government has responded with record-breaking levels of investment, including our £120 million Mental Health Recovery & Renewal Fund. As part of that work, we have made an additional £40 million available this year to improve Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and to clear waiting list backlogs by March 2023. We are also continuing to work directly with Health Boards with the poorest performance to ensure the 18 week waiting time standard is met.

As set out in the Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan, we are taking a whole systems approach to improving children and young people’s mental health. Alongside investing in acute CAMHS, we are seeking to ensure community services and school counselling are also available in a responsive and timely manner. We are developing responses to young people experiencing crisis and distress, as well as investing in approaches that promote prevention, early intervention and reducing stigma.

To support this approach, an additional £15 million has been provided to local authorities this year to deliver locally based mental health and wellbeing support for 5-24 year olds in their communities, providing alternative treatment options and pathways to CAMHS, and we have also ensured access to counselling support services in all secondary schools. Additionally, we are committed to supporting every health board in Scotland with development of Infant Mental Health (IMH) provision through £3 million of funding per annum.

This package of commitments is designed to help ensure the right help is available, in the right place, at the right time. This additional investment will contribute towards delivering our commitment to ensure that, by the end of this Parliament, at least 10% of frontline NHS spend goes towards mental health, with 1% going towards CAMHS.

The following table provides a breakdown of funding distributed from the Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund to date, which supports the delivery of the Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan.

As a result of increased demand and changes to service delivery, we have increased funding to NHS 24 by over £20m this year for additional recruitment and the addition of a new call centre in Dundee, which opened in December.

This is supporting the additional recruitment of 575 full time equivalent call handlers and 140 full time equivalent clinicians to date, including through the recently established 24/7 mental health hub.

Engagement with patients has shown NHS 24 that a focus on ensuring patients receive the appropriate advice, first time, rather than answering their call as quickly as possible is preferable. However, patients with serious and urgent conditions will always be a priority.

Callers to NHS 24 will initially have their symptoms triaged by a call handler before being passed on to a clinician within the Service or to another area of the health service best placed to meet their needs as appropriate.

Both Scottish Government and NHS 24 is committed to ensuring that the patients journey through the health care system is a quick as is possible and patient safety remains the key focus as we continue to enhance the 111 service.

Universities and colleges have a duty of care to support their students, and if any have experienced difficulty or have concerns about studying remotely they should contact their institution as soon as possible in order to access the support they need.

We are aware of the impact of the pandemic on student mental health and wellbeing, and have continued to address this, through that period, by providing additional funding to help students deal with the mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, support to NUS Scotland and student associations for vital welfare support for students in colleges and universities and additional funding for colleges to help students and staff respond to the pandemic.

The Scottish Government is committed to the development of a research and evidence informed Student Mental Health Action Plan and we are re-establishing the Student Mental Health and Well Being Working Group to help take this forward.

Clinical nurse specialists make a valued contribution to delivering services and supporting patients and families who require specialist care. The Scottish Government has invested £2.5 million annually in the Specialist Nursing and Care Fund since 2015.

The National Cancer Recovery Group (NCRG) recently carried out a short survey in November to identify workforce requirements to inform wider workforce planning. This looked at roles specifically related to cancer, including Cancer Nurse Specialists. Scottish Government Officials and the National Cancer Recovery Group are working collaboratively in the development of the National Workforce Strategy and work will be conducted around the cancer workforce over the coming year.

Information on the numbers of blood cancer specialist nurses is not held centrally.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-06205 on 4 March 2022. 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 .

An overarching Detect Cancer Early social marketing campaign 'Survivors' was launched in 2018. The campaign, developed in close consultation with the Scottish Cancer Coalition, aimed to reduce fear around cancer and empower people to take early action, be it visiting their GP practice or attending screening when invited. To coincide with the campaign, a symptom-checker tool was developed on DCE’s website (getcheckedearly.org) to raise awareness of the early signs and symptoms of cancer, including those that are indicative of blood cancer.

A new Early Cancer Diagnosis Programme Board has been formed, Chaired by Dr Catherine Calderwood, National Clinical Director at the Centre for Sustainable Delivery. This group will be responsible for shaping and supporting the delivery of Scotland’s early diagnosis agenda over the coming years, including any additional public awareness campaigns.

The NHS Recovery Plan 2021-2026 – published August 2021 – commits an additional £20m for our Detect Cancer Early Programme, providing greater public awareness of signs and symptoms of cancer and supporting the development of optimal cancer pathways to improve earlier diagnosis rates. Research will be undertaken in the coming months to better understand the possible barriers and levers to early diagnosis that any new awareness campaigns should focus on.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-06205 on 4 March 2022. 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 .

The Scottish Government is committed to finding cancer early. That is why we have established Scotland’s first three Early Cancer Diagnostic Centres in NHS Ayrshire & Arran, NHS Fife and NHS Dumfries & Galloway. These Centres provide primary care with a new referral route for patients with non-specific symptoms suspicious of cancers including blood cancer (such as weight loss, fatigue and nausea), which don’t meet Scottish cancer referral guidelines.

Our £44m Detect Cancer Early Programme adopts a whole-systems approach to diagnosing and treating cancer as early as possible – ranging from screening and public awareness campaigns to diagnostics and data. The NHS Recovery Plan 2021-2026, published August 2021, commits an additional £20m for the Programme.

As outlined in our NHS Recovery Plan, we will also develop and support the delivery of a new early diagnosis vision for Scotland. Stakeholder engagement will be an important part of its development, with Blood Cancer Alliance included in this. Officials recently met with the Blood Cancer Alliance and committed to working together in future to ensure the experiences of those with blood cancers are reflected in national cancer improvement programmes.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-06205 on 4 March 2022. 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 .