Chamber and committees

It is the responsibility of all Health Boards in Scotland, including those with rural communities, to ensure they put measures in place to address future challenges posed by climate change.

The Climate Change Sustainability and Environment Team within NHS Scotland Assure is available to provide support and advice to Scotland's Health Boards on climate change adaptation actions, including addressing any issues specific to rural areas.

The NRAC (resource allocation formula) is an objective measure of the need for health care services across Scotland. The current formula, which was established in 2005, considers the population share of each Board adjusted for the age/sex composition of the population, the relative health needs due to morbidity and life circumstances, and the excess cost of delivering healthcare to rural and remote areas. We have committed to a review of the funding formula. This supports vital work to reduce health inequalities; ensuring that we continue to allocate funding according to the relative need for healthcare in each Board area.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-33303 on 24 January 2025. 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/questions-and-answers

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-33707 on 29 January 2025. 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/questions-and-answers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18931 on 21 June 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/questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government is committed to addressing patient concerns about data privacy in the sharing of medical records across healthcare providers. We provide clear guidance on privacy and confidentiality, promote robust information governance practices, and support the NHS and healthcare providers in implementing appropriate processes to safeguard patient data.

The responsibility for developing data sharing agreements and publishing privacy notices is down to each individual Board. However, NHS Inform provides patients with supportive information to ensure they have an understanding of the holistic approach to data privacy NHS Scotland take. This information can be found here https://www.nhsinform.scot/care-support-and-rights/health-rights/confidentiality-and-data-protection/how-the-nhs-handles-your-personal-health-information/.

In addition to the guidance on Inform, Privacy by design is at the core of the National Information Governance Programme, forming a key part of our Data Strategy to ensure that digital and data-driven practices are developed with privacy safeguards embedded from the outset.

The Scottish Government also engages regularly with patients, the ICO, and citizen interest groups to ensure data-sharing practices respect patients' rights and expectations

Health data is shared, typically in an aggregated and anonymised format, with trusted third parties through trusted research environments known as ‘Safe Havens’. These Safe Havens comprise of a national Safe Haven within Public Health Scotland and four regional Safe Havens associated with NHS Grampian, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lothian, and Tayside.

Safe Havens play a crucial role in protecting personal data, providing a secure space, and supporting the secure use of NHS data for researchers to access and analyse healthcare data without compromising individual privacy. Within Safe Havens researchers can work with anonymised or pseudonymised data, reducing the risk of re-identification of individuals. By implementing robust security measures and access controls, Safe Havens ensure that only authorised individuals can interact with the data, and that they can only access the level of data that is appropriate and proportionate.

The Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme publishes annual data on incidence, cardiac interventions and patient outcomes across Scotland. The most recent reports are available here; Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme report 2023/2024 - Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme (SCAP) - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

The Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 and Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 have a focus on reducing inequities in access to cancer care and cancer outcomes.

The Scottish Government is looking to improve our understanding of outcomes of people with cancer living in rural and island communities. Examples include an independent evaluation of their experiences accessing cancer services, and a research programme on rural healthcare funded by the Chief Scientist Office.

The Scottish Diabetes Survey (SDS) collates data extracted from SCI-Diabetes database submitted by all 14 NHS boards and provides an annual summary of key issues and trends in diabetes care and treatment across Scotland. A link to the survey can be found at: Publications | diabetes in scotland.

We continue to develop the capabilities of the National Digital Platform (NDP), with core components that will enable individual access, such as standards-based data storage and integration, and access controls and user authentication for the workforce now largely in place.

However, the Platform itself will not provide patients digital access to their medical records or the ability to book appointments, rather it will power the underlying data requirements and systems integration for digital services that are public facing such as the Scotland-wide national vaccine service or the development of a Digital Front Door.

The Recommended Summary Plan for Emergency Care and Treatment digital application that is deployed on NDP is currently live in multiple health boards. In the past year, the platform has supported the delivery of the ANIA Digital Dermatology Pathway and will be providing the single source of the truth for Medical Devices Data as part of the Scan for Safety Programme in 2025-26.

The platform will be used to deliver the Digital Front Door service - an online app for patients which will begin to be rolled out in December 2025. The national roll out of this service will be incremental, starting in Lanarkshire. It will allow people to access and manage their hospital appointments online, receive communications, find local services, and access and update their personal information from day one. This will be the first step in a nationally committed, five-year programme for the Programme for Government 2024-25 commitment in launching a new personalised digital health and social care service.

Through our vision for ‘a Scotland where people live longer, healthy and fulfilling lives we are focused on improving the health of the population. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the lifeblood of the Scottish economy and so we want to create an economy that prioritises the wellbeing of staff and employees of SMEs.

The Scottish Government supports the Healthy Working Lives (HWL) initiative, hosted by Public Health Scotland, which offers a range of materials to support employers on all aspects of work-related health promotion and ill health prevention, return to work and workplace safety.

The Scottish Government funds Working Health Services Scotland (WHSS), a service delivered by individual territorial health boards that provides occupational health advice and support for people who are self-employed or working in companies with 250 or less employees and have a health condition or injury which they feel is impacting on their work. This service is coordinated by Salus Occupational health, safety and return to work services (NHS Lanarkshire), who work in partnership with all 14 NHS Health boards delivering the service, including coverage across rural areas.