Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has a long-standing commitment to the principles of Fair-Work for the social care sector as we recognise and value the work that they do.

The £12 minimum pay-rate from April 2024 for Adult Social Care workers represents a 14.3% increase for these workers in the last two years; with pay rising from at least £10.50 per hour in April 2022.

We have continued to progress a number of key projects to take forward and improve Fair Work principles, which will not only improve the current experience of the workforce, but also help to attract and retain new staff into the workforce.

We will also continue to build a National Care Service that has Fair Work, Ethical Commissioning and Sectoral Bargaining at its heart.

Menopause care and support is a top priority in the Women’s Health Plan . Progress against the menopause actions can be found in our Women’s Health Plan: Report on Progress and Interim Progress Update 2023 .

Since the publication of the Interim Progress Update, the development of a menopause public health campaign has begun and this is planned at present to be delivered within the current financial year. We are also continuing to promote menopause information on the NHS Inform Women’s Health Platform, and in October 2023 we held a ‘Talk Menopause’ panel session with The Alliance to raise women’s awareness of the menopause and menopause symptoms.

The NHSScotland Menopause and Menstrual Health Policy was launched on 31 October 2023. Whilst the policy was written specifically for NHS Scotland, the supporting resources, including line managers’ guidance and workplace adjustment guidance, are intended for use more widely and are available on the National Wellbeing Hub .

The Scottish Government recognises the challenges facing those living in remote and rural areas and the importance of women being able to access the support they need, when they need it. Work is ongoing to ensure services are developed in a flexible and innovative way, recognising local population needs and geographic challenges and there is now a menopause specialist in every mainland NHS Board, with a buddy system in place for the Island Boards.

The recently published NHSScotland Menopause and Menstrual Health Policy is intended as an example of best practice so that employers across Scotland can adapt it for their organisation, should they wish. The supporting resources, includes line managers’ guidance and workplace adjustment guidance and are intended for use more widely across a variety of employment sectors. They are available on the National Wellbeing Hub .

The National Cancer Medicines Advisory Group (NCMAG) will review the use of Anastrozole as a preventative treatment for post-menopausal women at a moderate or high risk of breast cancer, along with several other medicines for the chemoprevention of breast cancer at their Council meeting on 21 March 2024 and will publish their advice on 25 April 2024.

Alongside the NCMAG advice, consideration is being given to how it may fit into a chemoprevention care pathway in NHS Scotland, including screening and monitoring.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) continues to provide early information - on an in confidence basis - to Health Boards on medicines in clinical development that are expected to require a companion diagnostic through regular horizon scanning reports.

As part of the Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine (SSNGM), the Scottish Genomic Testing Advisory Group (SG-TAG) for cancer is now live, and has successfully carried out a review of a new genomic testing pathway for biliary tract cancer which was approved for implementation. This cancer pathway includes diagnostic and prognostic targets, and also targets for SMC approved medicines. The equivalent group for Rare and Inherited Conditions is due to launch next month. Both groups will include a process for considering the laboratory genomics delivery model as well as the cost of the genomic testing pathway for SMC approved medicines.

The only precision medicine accepted by the Scottish Medicines Consortium where the companion diagnostic test is not yet offered by NHS Scotland laboratories is Pemigatinib (SMC Number 2399).

We are continuing to work closely with key partners, such as the Scottish Strategic Network for Genomics Medicine (SSNGM), to ensure there is capacity within laboratories for companion diagnostics tests to be offered as soon as practically possible.

The Stroke Improvement Plan includes a commitment to assess the current ability of NHS Boards to implement the National Model of Psychological Care in Stroke (Scotland).

This is currently being assessed via NHS Board reviews which now include a requirement to demonstrate adequate provision of psychological support.

Assessment of ongoing implementation of the National Model of Psychological Care in Stroke (Scotland) will be reported on in the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme National Report.

Priority two in our new Stroke Improvement Plan , published in June is focused on awareness raising and includes a commitment to establishing the current degree of public understanding of FAST and stroke symptoms.

This work is currently underway and will help inform the most effective way of raising public awareness of stroke symptoms, including FAST campaigns.

In addition to FAST campaigns, we will also consider how awareness of the less common symptoms of stroke can be increased. We will continue to work with third sector organisations to consider how best to deliver future public health campaigns to raise awareness of stroke symptoms.

While the Scottish Government holds information on the number of overall psychology posts and vacancies, we do not hold information on specialty psychology roles. Decisions on such specialty roles are for Health Boards to address.

Psychology staffing has more than doubled (+131.6%, as of 30 June 2023) since 2007 and we are increasing the postgraduate student intake for Psychology Masters and Doctorate programmes by a total of 60 trainees between 2021 and 2023.

We published a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Plan on 7 November, which set out the actions we will take to ensure we have a resilient and sustainable workforce, with the right skills who are able to deliver the new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy.