Chamber and committees

Scottish Government officials are currently mapping residential rehabilitation opportunities across Scotland including improved referral pathways. Work around this is being accelerated in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Scottish Government has introduced a £350m package of funding and coordinated support for individuals and communities affected by COVID-19, allowing better support for people who may be worried about accessing food and other essentials whether due to an income drop or self-isolation, including older adults.

We are in frequent contact with key national stakeholders such as the Trussell Trust, the Independent Food Aid Network and FareShare who are monitoring the availability of food supplies to community based organisations. We will be connecting these groups to Local Resilience Partnerships who are undertaking vital frontline work to respond to the needs of vulnerable people.

Through the Detect Cancer Early programme, the Scottish Government aims to increase the proportion of cancers that are detected at the earliest stages and includes increasing awareness of the symptoms of ovarian Cancer.

Our social marketing strategy and the latest ‘Survivors’ campaign aims to reduce fear of all cancer, which we know remains a key barrier to people presenting early and encourage those with any unusual or persistent changes to their body to visit their GP practice.

This is supported by our ‘Getcheckedearly’ website which has an ovarian cancer specific page with case studies and links to Target Ovarian Cancer and Cancer Research UK.

As March is ovarian cancer awareness month we would encourage any women with any potential signs of ovarian cancer to contact their GP practice.

Improving children's healthy weight is a top priority for the Scottish Government. T hat is why our ambition to halve childhood obesity by 2030 and significantly reduce health inequalities sits at the heart of our Diet & Healthy Weight Delivery Plan, published in 2018.

Primary 1 BMI data is important to measure progress at local and national level. It is a key component of our wider efforts to tackle childhood obesity which need to be underpinned by high quality data that is used to its full potential.

In January 2020, the Director of Population Health and the Chief Nursing Officer wrote jointly to all NHS Boards to highlight our concern about the decline in coverage and reassert the importance of the P1 data collection through Child Health Reviews as the key measure for monitoring progress on childhood obesity nationally and locally. We intend to follow up the letter with discussions with Boards in due course.

That said, it is anticipated that school closures as a result of COVID-19 will affect Boards' ability to carry out Child Health Reviews in the current academic year.

Information regarding waiting times for psychological therapies in the prison estate is not held centrally by the Scottish Government or Information Services Division (ISD).

The Scottish Government’s Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027 reinforces our commitment to improving mental health outcomes for those in the justice system, including those in prisons. A range of activity is taking place through the Health and Social Care in Prisons Programme, the National Prison Care Network, the response to the Expert Review of Provision of Mental Health Services at HMP YOI Polmont and Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy, which outlines our commitment to funding 800 additional mental health workers in prisons and other key settings.

To date I have not yet met with the Chair of the Drug Death Taskforce.

We know that there are strong links between mental health and drug use, and I have frequent discussions with the Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing who established the Taskforce and who has attended all of the meetings of the group.

My policy officials are also working closely with those who support the Taskforce and those taking forward work on the delivery of the alcohol and drug strategy which included a number of areas of work linked to mental health.

Section 10 funding will continue to be provided in 2020-21 to support third sector organisations who are developing social care services and helping to create a healthier Scotland.

To alleviate the impact of the UK budget delay on third sector organisations, the Scottish Government confirmed to stakeholders in January 2020 the extension of the 2019-20 funding for the first 3 months of 2020-21. Full year funding has now been approved and officials are advising stakeholders of the details and process for 2020-21.

All patients in Scotland are entitled to free dental check-ups – and NHS dental care is free to children and young people up to 17 years of age, and adults in receipt of certain benefits, such as pensioners in receipt of pension credit guarantee credit.

Some patients may be entitled to help with health costs under the NHS Low Income Scheme (LIS). The LIS is designed to provide help with NHS charges for those who are not automatically entitled to free treatment, but have difficulty in paying. Help under the scheme is income related and based on an assessment of each claimant’s ability to pay in the light of his or her financial circumstances at the time a claim was made or a charge was paid.

NHS National Services Scotland took responsibility for hosting the refreshed National Prison Care Network in July 2019. A programme team has been recruited to establish, manage and facilitate the work of the Network. The Network is currently recruiting a clinical/professional lead to be the ambassador for the Network, with a key strategic role working with the Network team in promoting and driving forward the development of an effective, integrated, multidisciplinary service for prison care throughout Scotland.

Work to date has included engagement with stakeholders across Scotland with a wide scale cross sector stakeholder mapping, undertaken to ensure inclusivity and impact. The Network has worked with stakeholders and the Scottish Government to develop a new governance structure which will maximise resources and see a whole systems approach to health in custody (which includes the National Police Care Network and the National Prison Care Network). The Network has also delivered a stakeholder collaborative event to allow stakeholders to work collectively to identify the priorities for the Network, for prison care and integration into the community. This new structure will provide a platform to address a number of issues that require a national approach such as; Data and Information, (including clinical IT), Integration of Health and Social Care, Mental Health and Substance Use, Medicines, Community Integration Planning, Specialist Care, Primary Care and Education and Workforce.

Work has begun to develop the Network’s strategy, which will give focus to the priorities for the Network and develop an action plan to address these.

In relation to COVID-19, the Network is currently working with local NHS partners and the Scottish Prison Service to facilitate national coordination, develop consistent approaches and coordinate communications between partners.

Funding for the Network for 2020-21 is still to be finalised.

Information about how many nurses work in prison healthcare is not collected or centrally held by Scottish Government, Information Services Division or NHS Education for Scotland. Prisoner healthcare is a priority area for this government and the Transforming Roles programme will look to review and scope the roles of registered nurses within prisons to help meet the health and social care needs of the prison population. It will also look to improve retention and recruitment of nurses through the development of clear education and career pathways. This will be done in partnership with key stakeholders, including trade unions and professional bodies. Also, the National Prison Care Network recently held it's first stakeholder collaboration event on 4 March 2020, where Mr Fitzpatrick delivered a Ministerial welcome. This was also attended by representatives from trade unions and professional bodies.