Chamber and committees

Teams within General Practice, local community pharmacies and optometry practices frequently work together to support their patients. Other primary care providers can and do refer patients to community optometry services. Community optometry is the accepted first point of contact for any eye related issues.

The Scottish Government are determined to tackle poverty and reduce health inequalities in Scotland - continuing to take wide ranging action to deliver improved outcomes for families and individuals across the country and to address the root causes of inequality.

The Health and Care Experience Survey and the National Performance Framework both provide Scottish Government with evidence to support the monitoring of inequalities and outcomes across Scotland, including rural areas.

The Scottish Government has committed to publish a plan setting out how all parts of the Scottish Government are delivering for Scotland’s rural mainland communities, by the end of the current Parliament. This is underpinned by the evidence compiled on Rural Scotland, Rural Scotland Data Dashboard: Overview - gov.scot which was published on 21 December 2023. In addition, the Scottish Islands Data dashboard was published on 5 December 2023.

The Plan will cover a range of key areas, including health and social care.

Officials engage with Health Boards and HSCPs on a regular basis to review health outcomes.

The NHS Pharmacy First Scotland service is helping people to access the Right Care at the Right Place. It removes the need for unnecessary visits to GPs, Out of Hour services or Emergency Department for everyday self-limiting conditions.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) has reported that that in financial year 2023-24 alone, over 4.7 million Pharmacy First Scotland consultations were undertaken with 95% providing advice on self-care or treatment at the point of contact. PHS also reported that in 2023/24, 32% percent of the Scottish population (1,747,654 people) accessed Pharmacy First Scotland services at least once. PHS reports provide analysis of data at a national level, further aggregation by local area may be available online.

With Patient Group Directions (PGDs) in place for common clinical conditions such as shingles, urinary tract infections, skin conditions, impetigo and hay fever – patients can get prescription treatment without the need for an appointment at their GP practice. In 2023-24, Pharmacy First Scotland consultations using PGDs accounted for 3.8% of the total consultations (181,174) with 84% (154,809) resulting in treatment being provided by the community pharmacist.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-33541 on 27 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/written-questions-and-answers

Routinely collected data on the waiting time for a diagnosis of endometriosis are not available.

However, in 2024 Endometriosis UK published a report based on a survey of 4,371 people who received a diagnosis of endometriosis from a medical practitioner or following a diagnostic intervention. The report suggested that the current average waiting time for a endometriosis diagnosis in Scotland is now 8 years and 10 months.

Endometriosis has two stages of diagnosis, a working diagnosis at primary care level and a confirmed diagnosis via laparoscopy at secondary care. Not everyone with endometriosis will want to have a laparoscopy to confirm their diagnosis, particularly if their symptoms can be well managed.

We know that excessively long waits for laparoscopy are not acceptable and we apologise to all patients waiting too long. We are determined to drive improvements in this area and continue to work with NHS boards on a number of actions which will see patients treated as quickly as possible.

We want people to achieve a working diagnosis as soon as possible to enable swift access to appropriate care and treatment.

There are several treatment options to manage the symptoms of endometriosis. These include pain management options and hormonal contraception as well as surgical interventions including laparoscopy. There is no cure for endometriosis. More information can be found on NHS Inform.

As set out in the Endometriosis Care Pathway for NHS Scotland clinicians should consider women’s individual needs in order to determine treatment for example symptoms, aspects of daily living and desire for fertility.

Through the actions set out in our Women’s Health Plan we have taken steps to support both women and health professionals to learn more about endometriosis, the symptoms and treatment options.

Further information about the progress to date against each of the priorities in the Women’s Health Plan can be found in the Women’s Health Plan Final Report.

As well as a sight test, a routine NHS eye examination in Scotland provides a comprehensive eye health assessment, tailored to meet the needs of the patient. This helps with early detection of a range of sight-threatening conditions and some general medical conditions.

Where the optometrist suspects the patient has a sight-threatening condition, where clinically appropriate they will refer the patient to the hospital eye services. Data on such referrals can be found in the Public Health Scotland report referred to in answer to question S6W-33638 on 27 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/written-questions-and-answers

All referrals to the hospital eye service from community optometry are electronic and enable the attachment of retinal images and other examination results to aid the triaging of the patients. In addition, since the initial onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scottish Government has facilitated the use of technology to support remote consultations under General Ophthalmic Services which is likely to be of particular benefit to patients living in rural areas. The cloud-based national Electronic Patient Record is also being used by community optometrists providing the Community Glaucoma Service - an important technological initiative supporting safe and high quality care.

Through the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care, housed within NHS Education for Scotland, the Scottish Government are supporting the health workforce in rural and island areas.

A detailed programme of monthly rural specific training sessions are being delivered for multi-disciplinary rural practitioners online to ensure access for the widest group of rural practitioners across Scotland.

New rural specific training programmes are being developed and delivered to support the specific needs of the remote and rural Primary Care and community services workforce. Current programmes of work include focused support and training for remote and rural dispensing practices, new resources being developed to support Primary Care professionals to become trainers within the community and Primary Care Practice settings for Advanced Nurse, Pharmacy, and Practice Nurse Practitioners.

Public Health Scotland publishes annual data on NHS eye examination on their website at: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/ophthalmic-workload-statistics/ophthalmic-workload-statistics-statistics-as-at-year-ending-31-march-2024/

The Scottish Government’s role is to set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, NHS Boards are responsible for service delivery. All Health Boards should consider patient transport needs when they plan and deliver services.

On 30 October, the Scottish Government published the Transport to Health delivery plan which sets out commitments against transport and healthcare across the work of Health and Social Care and Transport Scotland. The plan was informed by the 2019 Transport to health and social care report prepared by the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS) on behalf of Ministers.

As set out in the plan, we will continue to use the NHS annual delivery plans to re-emphasise the need for Health Boards to consider patient access as part of the care pathway and reflecting the opportunity that is emerging for reducing the number of patient journeys through alternative options.