Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is in the process of commissioning NHS Health Boards to develop and submit monthly trajectories to support improvement against the 62-day cancer treatment standard.

Boards are expected to consider existing backlogs and implement identified improvement actions to ensure the development and maintenance of a sustainable service.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery will continue to monitor individual Board performance and support improvement activities including fully implementing the Framework for Effective Cancer Management.

It is important that there is an open and transparent national evaluation of this pilot programme and I am committed to regularly publishing operational data from open sites.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has received a full submission from the marketing authorisation holder, AbbVie Ltd., for mirvetuximab soravtansine (elahere®) for the treatment of adult patients with ovarian cancer who have received one to three prior systemic treatment regimens and advice is expected to issue later this year.

The medicine product page on the SMC’s website: mirvetuximab soravtansine (Elahere) will be updated once advice is published.

We have commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland to work on the evaluation, in conjunction with Public Health Scotland. Further details of the national evaluation will be shared when available.

The Scottish Government’s Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline published on 13 January 2026, sets out the projects and programmes it expects to fund over the next four financial years.

We are currently working with all health boards to develop an NHS whole system infrastructure plan for Scotland. This supports continued safe and effective use of existing facilities, through ongoing business continuity planning, as well as informing future investment priorities based on assessment of need across the whole of Scotland.

The first phase, Business Continuity Planning, is focussed on priority investment in the existing estate to support service continuity. Boards have completed risk-based assessments and received confirmation of items which can be progressed with additional funding from the Scottish Government. Future Business Continuity Plan submissions will be on a two-yearly full submission cycle, with interim years only requiring by-exception reporting of new essential maintenance or equipment replacement items not previously reported.

The second phase is focussed on the longer-term development of the estate to meet national, regional and local needs.

All Health Boards have been asked to undertake strategic needs assessments for three local investment priorities. In determining local investment priorities, Boards should also consider aspects of infrastructure resilience, capacity constraints and population-based service changes. Returns will be considered on a whole of Scotland basis. This approach aligns with the Scottish Government’s Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework and Population Health Framework.

Further detail on NHS Whole System Infrastructure Planning is set out in Director of Health Finance.dot.

The Scottish Spending Review 2026 sets out the Scottish Government's indicative capital spending plans for the four years to 2029-30. This includes £4.1 billion health capital investment across major infrastructure projects, essential maintenance and replacing and upgrading vital medical equipment as part of the commitment to invest £10 billion over the next decade.

We are currently working with all health boards to develop an NHS whole system infrastructure plan (WSIP) for Scotland to support targeted investment based on need across all of the NHS estate. This supports continued safe and effective use of existing facilities, through ongoing business continuity planning, as well as informing future investment priorities based on assessment of need across the whole of Scotland.

The first phase, Business Continuity Planning, is focussed on priority investment in the existing estate and equipment to support service continuity. Boards have completed risk-based assessments and received confirmation of items which can be progressed with additional funding from the Scottish Government. Future Business Continuity Plan submissions will be on a two-yearly full submission cycle, with interim years only requiring ‘by-exception’ reporting of new essential maintenance or equipment replacement items not previously reported.

In addition to the above planning, Health Boards receive baseline Capital funding each year to be used at their discretion to address estate and equipment requirements. The Scottish Government also continues to fund the national rolling radiotherapy equipment and ambulance fleet replacement programmes.

This year’s Budget included £36 million for the walk-in pilot programme.

It is important to note that the situation relating to maintenance is dynamic; as NHS Boards address and eliminate items of maintenance, new items will emerge. It is therefore expected that there will be ongoing requirement for maintenance across the NHS estate.

While it is possible to compare year-on-year changes in backlog maintenance values, this does not represent a cash requirement. Elimination of backlog is achieved from a variety of measures – estate rationalisation and disposal of older properties, incorporating backlog work with redevelopment or lifecycle investment and targeting high risk areas, as we are already doing through NHS whole system infrastructure planning (WSIP).

This whole system approach to infrastructure investment supports continued safe operation of existing facilities. Boards have completed risk-based assessments and received confirmation of items which can be progressed with additional funding from the Scottish Government. Future Business Continuity Plan submissions will be on a two-yearly full submission cycle, with interim years only requiring ‘by-exception’ reporting of new essential maintenance or equipment replacement items not previously reported.

Further detail on NHS WSIP is set out in the answer to question S7W-00813 on 16 June 2026. 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.

The Scottish Government has commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to undertake an independent scalability assessment of our Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service (RCDS) Pilots. This project will explore options to expand access to non-specific symptom pathways for cancer, such as RCDSs, in the most effective way to address population-level coverage.

This assessment will complete by Spring 2027. Scottish Government will review this assessment and work with HIS, the Centre for Sustainability (CSfD) and NHS Boards to consider effective RCDS expansion.