Current status: Answered by Neil Gray on 9 October 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that children and young people from rural areas who have cancer and are excluded from accessing the Young Patients Family Fund do not experience inequalities in accessing their treatment and care because of any significant travel distances and costs that they might face over long periods of time.
If a child or young person is diagnosed with cancer, the Scottish Government wants them to be treated as close to home as clinically appropriate. As treatments for cancer become more complex and expensive however, it is not possible to deliver them in every location. We know that the best outcomes are often associated with specialist centres and patients should be fully supported in accessing these.
Where travel is necessary, the Scottish Government expects NHS Boards to work collaboratively with each other and transport providers to make suitable arrangements to ensure that the necessary treatment can be provided in a patient-centred way.
The Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) was established to support families visiting children receiving inpatient care in hospital, for any health condition, to meet some of the costs of hospital visits. This includes providing a contribution to costs relating to travel, subsistence and accommodation. The YPFF was not designed to provide financial support to patients themselves.
Further to this, the Scottish Government provides the overall guidance to NHS Boards for patient travel expenses reimbursement. Several schemes are in place offering financial reimbursement for travel costs for treatment.
The Patient Travel Expenses Scheme (PTES) is Scotland-wide and provides support to those in receipt of certain benefits.
The Highlands and Islands Travel Scheme (HITS) reimburses the travel costs of everyone in the Highlands and Islands area required to travel more than 30 miles to a hospital by road or 5 miles by air or land, less the first £10 (unless in receipt of certain benefits).
Under the discretionary scheme, NHS Boards may also choose to reimburse patient travel expenses to those not eligible under PTES or HITS where it is viewed to be an extension of treatment costs and deemed to be clinically necessary.