Chamber and committees

A number of high-calibre candidates have been interviewed for this important role and the appointments process is in the final stages. Ministers will provide an update to Parliament shortly.

Yes, the Scottish Government has taken significant steps to promote the use of video, through NHS Near Me, and telephone consultations where appropriate to support access to services for women.

Key actions have included:

• Targeted social media campaigns via the NHS Near Me Twitter account throughout 2022, including a targeted campaign in March for International Women’s day and Endometriosis month to establish stronger partnership engagement.
• Direct engagement with women and health services; the initial focus has been on Endometriosis with the view to expand this further.
• Partnerships with third sector organisations such as Endometriosis UK, Endo Warriors, Endo Bonds, Endoborders, ALLiance, Lets Get on With Scotland and Sports Scotland.

The rollout of the Women’s Health Plan also sets out commitments to ensure that all women enjoy the best possible health throughout their lives. The Near Me programme aims to ensure that healthcare services are responsive and adaptive to the individual needs of women, with practitioners adequately trained to be able to help women, particularly those who have been affected by trauma or adversity and where choice of appointment is offered routinely.

In addition, use of remote consultations continues to be explored within Family Nurse Partnerships and community maternity services.

The Women’s Health Plan, published in August 2021, contains an action to implement a Women’s Health Service in community pharmacies.

This service will be introduced on an incremental basis over the next few years. The first step was the introduction of bridging contraception in community pharmacies from November 2021.

Work to widen eligibility for PrEP in Scotland is well underway. This has been progressed by a dedicated PrEP Short Life Working Group, comprising clinical and third sector representatives, which is developing guidance for new eligibility criteria. The goal is to ensure that anyone who is at risk of acquiring HIV is eligible to receive PrEP.

Widening eligibility will also require ensuring appropriate capacity to provide PrEP. In December 2022, the Scottish Government committed to support a pilot for an online service providing access to PrEP. Work on this is now being taken forward. If successful, in the long term, an online service could improve access, including for those living in remote or rural areas.

As set out in the August 2021 Plan the establishment of a Women’s Health Research Fund is a long term action with a delivery timescale of three years or more from publication.

A short life working group to look at Hepatitis C treatment in people who inject drugs was established in early 2021.

Membership comprised the Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland and clinical representation from NHS Tayside, which was one of the first areas in the world to effectively eliminate Hepatitis C 11 years ahead of the 2030 World Health Organisation target of 2030.

The group recommended exploring the development of a national service, delivered through the community pharmacy network, to provide Hepatitis C testing and treatment to people who inject drugs, and thereby support elimination of Hepatitis C as a major public health threat in Scotland by 2024. Discussions will be taken forward with the representative body, Community Pharmacy Scotland, to explore how the community pharmacy network can support this work.

The HIV Transmission Elimination Proposal, led by Professor Rak Nandwani (the then co-chair of the Scottish Health Protection Network Strategic Leads) was published on 1 December 2022 and can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/ending-hiv-transmission-scotland-2030/

We understand the importance of appropriate staffing to provide high quality care for people with chronic pain. As set out in our National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care published in March 2022, we are committed to supporting the delivery of new training pathways for pain management to enhance and expand our pain-skilled workforce.

In July 2022 we published our Framework for Pain Management Service Delivery – Implementation Plan which sets out the actions we are taking to improve care and support for people with chronic pain, including through developing the pain management workforce. In support of this we have established a new national multi-disciplinary Chronic Pain Education Group which is focused on developing and promoting resources to enhance the knowledge and skills of healthcare professionals across Scotland.

In addition, we are working with the Faculty for Pain Medicine to support the development of new credentials to increase the availability of pain management specialists across our NHS. We are also supporting work to develop a credential for Advanced Care Practitioners in pain management which will support GPs, paramedics, Allied Healthcare Professionals and other key roles gain the knowledge and skills to provide holistic, effective support for people with chronic pain in their communities.

The National Clinical Skills for pharmacists programme supports registered pharmacists take on new and extended clinical roles, however it is the Independent Prescriber course which allows community pharmacists to qualify as Independent Prescribers. In 2020-2021 NHS National Education for Scotland (NES) commissioned a total of 115 Independent Prescriber (IP) places for Community Pharmacists to undertake an IP qualification during 2021.

In 2021-2022 NES commissioned a total of 222 IP places for Community Pharmacists to undertake an IP qualification during 2022.

The Pharmacist Independent Prescribing qualification takes on average 12 months to complete and courses run 4 times a year, therefore to date 111 community pharmacists from these cohorts have qualified as an Independent Prescriber.

Evidence from the evaluation of minimum unit pricing (MUP) has shown that consumers have responded to the introduction of MUP in a variety of ways including reduced purchasing of products whose price has increased, switching to smaller pack sizes, to more premium products and to lower strength products.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) are undertaking a comprehensive evaluation of MUP, which includes assessing the impact of MUP on health, crime, public safety and public nuisance in Scotland, and the impact on the alcohol industry. A final evaluation report will be published in 2023.

All published studies are available on the PHS website: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/