Chamber and committees

NHS Lothian have taken a number of steps over the years to maintain and control parking to ensure that available spaces at St John's are used by legitimate users (patients, visitors and staff) while deterring the use of the car park by non hospital users, but there is a balance between deterring non-hospital users and creating unnecessary congestion. In the longer term, the Board, as part of a possible expansion of clinical services at the site, will look at additional car parking options and any schemes brought forward by them will be considered by the Scottish Government.

Civil servants abide by the Civil Service Code, which expects them to act with integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality. In particular, civil servants are asked to set out relevant issues truthfully, and must not mislead Ministers or be influenced by improper pressures. Civil servants must provide information and advice on the basis of evidence, and accurately present opinions and facts.

The Civil Service Code can be viewed here: https://beta.gov.scot/publications/civil-service-code/

Any Minister who has concerns about advice given by Scottish Government officials should raise the issue with the relevant senior official at the time the advice is offered.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the structured diabetes education offered by individual NHS Boards. NHS Boards are responsible for delivering structured education tailored to suit local circumstances.

The Scottish Diabetes Survey includes the "Percentage of people with diabetes who have ever attended Level 3 structured education - presented in defined age ranges".

The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) evaluated the evidence relating to its effectiveness in helping to prevent other serious diabetes-related conditions prior to its inclusion in their national clinical guidance on diabetes, SIGN 116.

In Scotland, the Diabetes Education Advisory Group provides support to NHS Boards, for example, accreditation of local courses to ensure a consistent high standard.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of providing high quality cancer services for the Edinburgh Cancer Centre at the Western General Hospital and are supportive of NHS Lothian’s plans to develop a business case.

A decision on the funding will be made following review of the business case and it would not be appropriate to make any decision before that review is complete. However the Scottish Government have agreed to support the necessary investment on interim bridging capital in the current building which will improve current service provision while the business case is being developed.

NHS Lothian are in the process of developing a business case for a world-leading cancer centre in NHS Lothian and work is on-going. A decision on the funding will be taken when the business case is submitted to the Scottish Government for review. The target date of completion remains 2025, but will be updated once we receive more detailed plans from NHS Lothian.

While that major project is underway, NHS Lothian have taken the interim step of creating plans to enhance the current accommodation. This will allow their clinicians to continue to provide expert care for patients in the same building until they are able to move into a new facility. A significant amount of work has already been undertaken and the Scottish Government is planning on allocating additional funding to support these plans; the exact amount of support will be confirmed as the plan is developed but it is expected to be in the range of £15 million.

The Scottish Government last met with Universities Scotland on 19 December 2017, when officials met with them to discuss the impact of Brexit on the Scottish Higher Education Sector, including EU students.

Since 2016-17, we have provided £187,500 in project funding to support chronic pain research on behalf of the Scottish Government and NHS in Scotland, at the University of Dundee. This is looking at the development of better data and the collection of best evidence to help drive improvements in pain services, and is phased over a planned three-year period.

The research was initiated to collect detailed data on a one-year long pilot study across three NHS Pain Services (Lothian, Tayside and Fife) in Scotland. Its aim was to assess the process, utility and challenges associated with data collection within these services to improve these NHS services for people affected by chronic pain.

The initial stages of the research have been completed. The current stage aims to translate and implement the findings from the initial phase. Scottish Government receives frequent updates on activity and output from the research team, and these include;

- study of existing data collection from three chronic pain services

- analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of these, and the associated systems

- design of a draft core minimum dataset for collection by pain services across Scotland

- design of draft Quality Performance Indicators, for pain services across Scotland

- consultation with professional stakeholders around these data and QPIs

- initiation and completion of evidence-based guidelines for management of chronic pain in children and adolescents

-systematic review of interventions to support reduction of opioid treatment

- support for the Scottish Pain Research Community's Annual Scientific Meeting, and further development, to inform best management in Scotland.

Any future funding will be considered against progress made towards agreed outcomes.

I can confirm that in 2018-19 the City of Edinburgh Council will again receive an additional £3.9 million in recognition of the increased costs that are associated with Edinburgh being Scotland’s capital city.

The reporting of waiting times data was a standing item for discussion at the meetings of the Ministerial Steering Group (MSG) on Chronic Pain. Officials met with ISD on 13 January 2017 to provide feedback from patient representatives of the MSG following discussion of the waiting times publication at the MSG on 4 October 2016.

In relation to waiting times data for return appointments, the MSG maintained a position that as this data would not lead to better outcomes for people with chronic pain other options should be explored and subsequently approved progression of the development of a National Chronic Pain dataset.

The Ministerial group has been replaced by the National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain, which met for the second time on 19 December 2017 and is chaired by Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Gregor Smith. That group, which includes patient representatives, will oversee the development of the National Chronic Pain dataset.

ISD adheres to the Code of Practice for Official Statistics which is underpinned by the Statistics and Registration Services Act (2007). This is achieved by listening to users of their statistics through consultations and adjusting their statistical outputs accordingly, ensuring their statistical reports are protected from any political pressures, and presenting statistics impartially and objectively.

As part of moving the Chronic Pain Waiting Times Publication from developmental status to Experimental Official Statistics, ISD carried out a consultation with users and published a report in October 2017. ISD will be implementing changes over forthcoming publications and are also happy to receive feedback on publications at any point in time.

In line with the commitment set out in the Cancer Strategy, I can confirm that two radiotherapy physics trainee posts per annum were filled in 2015-16 and 2016-17.