Chamber and committees

A final report on the Neurological Care and Support in Scotland: A Framework for Action 2020-2025 will be published by the Scottish Government when the Framework reaches the end of its agreed lifespan. An assessment of future priorities for neurological conditions will be included.

The aims contained in the document Neurological Care and Support in Scotland: A Framework for Action 2020 – 2025 are applicable to healthcare delivery across Scotland. Through this we have supported a number of national initiatives to improve care and reduce variation, including:

• Self-evaluation by all NHS boards against the General Standards for Neurological Care and Support 2019. Development of national care pathways for headache and Functional Neurological Disorder, with care pathways for further conditions in development
• Agreement of a Business Case and funding to adopt the Scottish Epilepsy Register across Scotland, improving the safety and quality of care for people with epilepsy
• Development of a neurology nurse specialist competency framework
• Formation of collaborative improvement networks which include NHS boards, Health and Social Care Partnerships, third sector organisations and people with lived experience to encourage consistent adoption of the successful approaches funded through the Framework
• Development, by third sector partners, of a toolkit for the consistent commissioning of social support for people with epilepsy
• Improved provision of public information on individual neurological conditions through the development and/or revision of 23 NHS inform webpages
• Through national charities, development of nationally-accessible sources of self-management support for people with MS, spina bifida hydrocephalus, progressive supranuclear palsy, cerebral palsy and non-epileptic seizures
• Re-development of the internationally recognised neurosymptoms.org web resource to support people with Functional Neurological Disorder
• Dissemination of nationally-accessible clinician education resource for ME/CFS

There are no plans to expand eligibility of The Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) at this time.

In addition to support available under the YPFF, financial support for travel to hospital is available via the patient travel expenses reimbursement schemes. Under those schemes, patients and authorised escorts can reclaim reasonable costs of travel associated with attending a hospital appointment, in line with eligibility criteria and medical requirements.

Within the Scottish Government, funding for Health and Care Research comes under the policy remit of the Chief Scientist Office (CSO)

CSO directly funds research through its research project and fellowship schemes. These are open to applications from across the clinical spectrum. All applications go through the same independent expert review process to enable funding decisions to be made

For multi-year projects and fellowships, the funding figure is allocated to the year corresponding to the start date and is the total amount committed to the project or fellowship

The 4 categories listed have been interpreted as follows:

Dementia - category including Alzheimer's; Frontotemporal Lobe Dementia; Lewy Body Dementia

Priorities for the Scottish Government are:

• national implementation of the Scottish Epilepsy Register,
• further adoption of successful approaches to improving services through the neurological conditions network,
• continued improvements in provision of ‘social support’ and psychological services for people with neurological conditions,
• continued development and adoption of condition specific care pathways,
• continued development and adoption of approaches to workforce planning and training for nursing, pharmacy, neuropsychology allied health professionals, and neurophysiology.

This work will be considered as part of the development of the Long Term Conditions Strategy due to be published later this year. Any required funding will be considered during the 2025-26 budget deliberations.

The largest proportion of funding has been awarded to projects that improve services for all or more than one neurological condition, including services for carers. Direct investment was also made to projects for the following specific conditions:

• Acquired Brain Injury
• Cerebral Palsy
• Epilepsy
• Functional Neurological Disorder (FND)
• Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)
• Migraine
• Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP)
• Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures
• Spina bifida/ hydrocephalus

A full list of projects funded through the Neurological Framework can be found here.

This information is not held centrally by either Scottish Government or Public Health Scotland (PHS).

The delivery of the Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People in Scotland 2021- 2026 continues to be taken forwards by the Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC) into 2026.

The progression of actions in the strategy are regularly reviewed by MSN CYPC and will inform any future national strategy approach required to ensure that children and young people with cancer will have access to the best possible treatment and care.

The draft budget published on 4 December 2024 includes new investment of £4.5 million to deliver new specialist support across the country for long COVID, ME, Chronic Fatigue, and other similar conditions.

Implementation and evaluation of the Collaborative and Compassionate Cancer Care The Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People in Scotland 2021–2026 is managed by the Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC).

Consideration will be given to an evaluation of the delivery of this strategy as it continues into 2026. Recommendations and actions are continually reviewed by MSN CYPC and the 2023-24 MSN CYPC Annual Report has been published on the MSN CYPC website – www.msncypc.Inhs.scot.