Question reference: S5W-35332
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 18 February 2021
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 March 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what pans it has to allocate any unclaimed balance from the mesh-injured women’s fund, and what its position is on using this to establish a funding stream to pay the costs incurred by women seeking to be treated abroad by internationally-recognised mesh surgeons.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29926 on 16 June 2020, The Scottish Government has made £1 million available for the mesh fund. Over 400 applications have been received to date. Payments totalling just under £397,000 have been made so far, with payments amounting to a further £20,000 pending. Applications are permitted up to the 31 May 2021 and, as such, continue to be received. It cannot therefore be known at this stage what the total amount claimed will be.
In response to S5W-33641, answered on 5 January 2021, I indicated that I had asked NHS National Services Scotland (NHS NSS) to actively consider whether options are available for the commissioning of mesh removal services outside of the NHS. I can now confirm that, as set out in a letter to Parliament's Public Petitions Committee on 17 February, NHS NSS intends shortly to issue an invitation to tender for specified mesh removal services. Persons and centres in the UK and from overseas may submit a tender. Standard procedures will be followed, as set by NHS NSS, and any treatment commissioned as a consequence of this process will be provided free of charge to patients.
All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.