Chamber and committees

Through our 10-year cancer strategy, the Scottish Government continues to have a focus on the less survivable cancers, including brain tumours, and improving their outcomes. We will assess the suitability of any new diagnostic tests specifically for brain tumours as the evidence develops.

The Scottish Government is taking various actions to help ensure the right patient is on the right pathway at the right time, and they receive an appropriate diagnosis as early as possible. These actions include:

• A clinical review of the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer
• Publication of a new Headache Referral pathway, which lists red flag symptoms that indicate the need for urgent and/or emergency assessment to exclude a secondary cause, such as a brain tumour
• Publication of a Clinical Management Pathway for adult brain tumours, to ensure consistency, equity of treatment and care, and improve outcomes across Scotland.

Brain cancer is one of 11 priority testing pathways with Scottish Government funding provided to NHS National Services Division (NSD) in 2023 to commission enhanced genomic testing for patients with brain cancer in Scotland. NSD are working with the laboratory service on an implementation plan for this testing.

The Scottish Government is working with stakeholders on the review and development of various guidance to inform pain management services.

As outlined in the updated chronic pain implementation plan, Framework for pain management service delivery - implementation plan update (www.gov.scot) the national clinical guidelines for Scotland (SIGN 136), and polypharmacy guidelines are currently being updated.

We are also working with Healthcare Improvement Scotland to deliver a national approach to specialist interventions for chronic pain and to consider the creation of national standards for chronic pain management.

In 2019, Scotland committed to the ambitious goal of eliminating HCV as a public health concern five years ahead of the World Health Organization’s global target of 2030. Since then, we’ve seen considerable progress with major achievements across multiple indicators. Unfortunately the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the rate of progress, however we continue to work with NHS Boards and other services to press towards our shared goal of HCV elimination.

Public Health Scotland’s annual HCV surveillance report is scheduled for release on 3 December 2024 and we are working with PHS to assess our position against the indicators. We will provide an update on progress towards our elimination goal in due course.

As outlined in the Terms of Reference, the Expert Group is considering the appropriate gestational limits for abortion alongside grounds for abortion; pathways for patients; the data and information collected about patients accessing services; regulations; the right to conscientious objection for healthcare workers; and criminal offences related to having or providing an abortion. This is in line with the commitment made by the Scottish Government.

The Terms of Reference can be accessed online; Abortion Law Review Expert Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The Scottish Government believes it is important to work with a wide range of clinical, lived experience and third sector representatives in developing chronic pain policies. This includes the Faculty for Pain Management (FPM) Our clinical lead for chronic pain policy has recently joined its committee and we sought input from the FPM in our stakeholder engagement in the summer of 2023.

The Scottish Government last had specific discussions with the FPM in 2020 to understand if there were any safety concerns around receiving chronic pain interventions, including steroid injections, and an individual’s immune response to COVID-19.

As part of the updated chronic pain implementation plan, Framework for pain management service delivery - implementation plan update (www.gov.scot) we are working with Healthcare Improvement Scotland to deliver a national approach to specialist interventions, which may cover steroid injections, for chronic pain. This process will review effectiveness, safety, cost effectiveness, and incorporate the views of patients and clinicians.

As part of the reception process into prison, everyone has a consultation with an NHS healthcare professional within 24 hours of arrival, using a nationally agreed admission process.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) is currently in the process of updating its guidance on opt-out testing for blood-borne virus (BBV) in prisons with the intent to publish a revised document in the coming months. This updated guidance will recommend routine opt-out testing for new admissions and check and test for transfers between establishments. PHS is taking a cross-programme approach to opt out testing for BBV in prisons, and other justice settings, and works with Alcohol & Drug Partnerships, prisons, police custody and the national justice networks to ensure a coordinated approach.

In addition the Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards include a requirement for opt-out testing in justice settings (including prisons) and PHS will gather intelligence on local policies and pathways for opt-out testing in prisons as part of an improvement approach to help implement the standards. The MAT programme will also publish a toolkit for the implementation of the MAT standards in justice settings and this will complement the BBV opt-out testing guidance.

Whilst I understand that both cross border operators and ScotRail have no current plans to increase calls at Carstairs railway station, my officials will raise this issue at future meetings.

On Monday 4 November 2024 I announced that, through a combination of public and increasing private sector investment, Scotland has achieved its target of 6,000 publicly available EV charge points two years ahead of its 2026 target and this was achieved through a combination of public sector and growing private sector investment. Charge point data provider ZapMap reports Scotland had 6,030 public charge points as of 31 October.

The amount of Scottish Government funding which has been awarded and drawn down by recipients to support investment in public EV charging in the last five years is noted in the following table, from financial year 2019-2020.

The Scottish Government committed to reviewing the law on abortion to ensure that abortion services are first and foremost a healthcare matter.

An expert group chaired by Professor Anna Glasier, the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Champion, has been established to take this forward. The Group will consider the legal framework for abortion and clinical practice with a view to making recommendations where appropriate.

Membership of the expert group consists of clinical, legal, reproductive rights and academic experts. Members were selected to reflect a diverse range of expertise relevant to the healthcare focus of the review and its aim to develop recommendations that best serve the needs of those seeking and providing abortion care, while also considering the complexities of the matter.

Stakeholder engagement is a vital part of the wider review. The work of the expert group is one element of that wider review, and written submissions will be provided to the group from a range of organisations, including pro-life groups. The Scottish Government has written to a range of pro-life groups to ask if they wish to participate in a stakeholder group to feed directly into the wider review. All organisational views will be carefully considered alongside a range of clinical evidence in addition to the recommendations made by the Expert Group.

All minutes of the Expert Group are published online, and can be accessed here: Abortion Law Review Expert Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Due to the current financial situation the Scottish Government is having to make some difficult budgetary decisions.

As part of this, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) was asked to minimise any discretionary spend where possible. The Scottish contribution to DOCET is held as part of the NES budget and in that context, NES Optometry decided to remove the funding to DOCET as part of the savings exercise.

The Scottish Government provides considerable funding to NES to provide training and education to support the provision of NHS General Ophthalmic Services. NES delivers a programme of on-line and in person events, e-learning modules, Independent prescriber training, peer support groups, as well as teach and treat clinics that provide clinical experience. Funding also supports training for other practice staff including dispensing opticians, with access to resources also available to eyecare professionals working within the hospital eye service too.

In addition to their NES training, optometrists can continue to meet their mandatory continuing professional development requirements via a number of different sources including self-directed learning, The College of Optometrist’s programme of courses, their employer’s events and also by the extensive array of private provider provision.

On a comparative basis, and adjusted for size, even with the removal of DOCET access, the investment in education and training for Optometrists in Scotland remains dramatically better than England.