Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is seeking to commission independent research in relation to protests and vigils that take place outside of abortion clinics to collect evidence of both the scale and impact of protest and vigils. The research will provide meaningful insight into the effects of protests and vigils on those who choose to protest, and those who are affected. Whilst the research will not be completed in time for the launch of Gillian Mackay MSP’s Member’s Bill, it will help provide a robust evidence base going forward.

The Scottish Government are committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with long-term conditions such as arthritis are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put the person at the centre of their care.

I have had two meetings with Versus Arthritis at which they outlined their campaign. I also spoke at their webinar/conference, which was held earlier this year.

The Scottish Government will continue to engage with Versus Arthritis regarding how best to jointly support patients living with arthritis. This will be an ongoing process involving essential collaboration with patients, carers and service providers, including the third sector and clinicians.

The Scottish Government is not delaying the introduction of legislation on buffer zones. We have agreed to work constructively with Ms Gillian Mackay MSP on her forthcoming Member’s Bill.

The First Minister is wholeheartedly committed to addressing the issue of protests and vigils that take place outside of abortion clinics, and will therefore be chairing a summit on abortion on 27 June. The summit will primarily focus on buffer zones, but will also look at what measures can be implemented in the short term to ensure women can access abortion without fear of intimidation or harassment.

Over the course of the last five years, the force has created separate Divisions for specialist officers such as CID. As a national police force, these specialist officers are not bound by traditional geographical borders. Therefore, to provide an accurate breakdown of resource placement in Scotland my officials have requested this information from the British Transport Police and I will write to the member in due course.

ScotRail’s Safety and Security team has been developing options relating to the current ban on consumption of alcohol on trains. I understand that the ScotRail Trains Ltd Board will consider these options shortly and will take account of the range of stakeholder views, including those of Trade Unions and any further representations that are made. I will then consider any recommendation ScotRail provides, giving due cognisance to staff and passenger safety.

We have invested £10 million in 21-22 to support cancer waiting times improvements. Latest data (Q4 2021) shows that the median wait for melanoma patients on the 62 day pathway (from urgent suspicion of cancer referral to treatment) is 27 days and 0 days for those on a 31 day pathway (from decision to treat, to first treatment).

We are also investing in our £44 million Detect Cancer Early Programme. The Detect Cancer Early website (getcheckedearly.org) features an interactive ‘symptom checker’ tool to raise awareness of the common signs and symptoms of cancer, including skin cancers to improve the likelihood of better outcomes for melanoma patients. To further improve diagnosis, Scotland’s first three Early Cancer Diagnostic Centres (ECDC) have been established. The Centres provide primary care with access to a new, person-centred fast-track diagnostic pathway for patients with non-specific symptoms (including weight loss, nausea, and fatigue) that are suspicious of cancer.

As part of our NHS Recovery Plan we are investing over £400m to create a network of 10 National Treatment Centres across Scotland, increasing capacity for over 40,000 additional planned elective procedures and diagnostic care across 12 specialities, including cancer treatments.

More specifically, the Centre for Sustainable Delivery manages a Dermatology work-stream, to improve patient pathways, experience and outcomes within the specialty. As part of this work they have committed to ongoing work in relation to Dermatology Nursing Education and working with the British Association of Dermatologists to ensure sustainability and to increase the range of pathways where primary care have access to high quality referral information from a single source.

Work is underway to develop a new cancer strategy for NHS Scotland. Ensuring cancer patients, including those affected by melanoma, have access to equitable, timely treatment will remain a priority.

The Scottish Government is currently working with Public Health Scotland to develop an online platform for members of the public to access information on the average waiting times for a range of treatments within their health board area. We expect the platform to be available this summer.

Most Health Boards across NHS Scotland offer fast-track clinics for patients with an urgent suspicion of skin cancer, including malignant melanoma. We are supportive of coordinating tests where possible to support faster diagnosis and improve patient experience, which is why we are developing national optimal cancer diagnostic pathways.

£10 million was released in 21-22 to support the recovery and redesign of cancer pathways, including to support one-stop clinics, with similar levels of investment expected this year.

Meanwhile, we continue to support the Dermatology Consortium that are exploring solutions for the rapid diagnosis of skin cancer in NHS Scotland.

We are working hard to abolish excessively long waits that have undoubtedly been exacerbated by the impacts of the global pandemic and we offer our sincere sympathies to all patients waiting for treatment.

Pausing of non-urgent activity during the pandemic has inevitably led to a build-up of numbers waiting for treatment, and the emergence of Omicron and the BA.2 sub-variant in late 2021 has undoubtedly added to existing significant pressure. We are working closely with NHS Boards to get those waiting for treatment the care they need as quickly as possible.

In order to support a sustainable reduction in the backlog of planned care procedures in Scotland, the Scottish Government published an NHS Recovery Plan in August 2021. Backed by over £1 billion of funding, this sets out our plans for health and social are over the next 5 years.

The NHS Recovery plan can be accessed here: NHS recovery plan - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The pandemic has been the biggest shock our NHS has ever faced. It has necessitated the imposition of Infection Prevention Control measures in order to contain its spread, particularly prior to the vaccination programme being fully rolled out.

These IPC measures, which have recently been deescalated, changed the way GPs see their patients. The Scottish Government wants to see greater availability of face-to-face appointments and is working with the BMA and RCGP to ensure this happens as quickly as possible. However, Covid has not gone away yet, therefore some precautions remain in place. We are clear that where clinically necessary face-to-face consultations will always be available to those who need them.

We must continue to move toward a position where choice is being offered routinely, and the Scottish Government welcomes the GMC’s proposed changes to the Good Medical Practice guidance placing a greater emphasis on shared decision-making between GPs and their patients.

Many GP practices did offer patients video or phone consultations as well as in-person face-to-face consultations before the pandemic changed the balance and we expect a number of patients will wish to continue afterwards with video or phone consultations rather than travel to their GP practice. Ultimately, what is most important is that appointments are agreed through shared decision making, balancing patient choice and clinical judgement.

We continue to explore new ways and approaches to support people to, for example, upload an image of their skin condition for review. This can support people to seek advice in a way that best supports their needs and requirements whilst also ensuring they still have access to a face-to-face appointment.

All GP practices are expected to follow the Infection Prevention and Control Manual for in-person visits as well as their local Health Board's guidance.