Chamber and committees

The information requested is not collected by the Scottish Government.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

As outlined in the Mental Health in Primary and Community Care Progress Report (Dec 2024), we remain committed to delivering increased mental health and wellbeing workforce capacity in general practice when it is feasible to do so. As the member will be aware, the Emergency Budget review meant that recruitment of additional roles was paused. We are prioritising investment to maintain mental health capacity in primary care through Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027 and the Primary Care Improvement Fund.

The Mental Health in Primary and Community Care Progress Report also sets out what is needed to improve access to support, assessments and treatment from general practice. It contains a range of actions, including improving access to adult mental health treatment – expanding the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub, by December 2025, to provide access to digitally enabled psychological interventions and therapies for people who may benefit from early treatments.

This is in the context of wider support for general practice: the Scottish Government has already allocated over £1.3 billion to primary medical services this year with a further £56 million on course for pay rises and to provide new preventative services.

This follows an increase of £59.6 million last year to meet the Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration recommendations and to cover population growth as well as a further £13.6 million to help GP practices meet the costs of inflationary pressures and deliver local enhanced services.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) collects, preserves and produces information about Scotland's people and history, and makes it available to inform current and future generations. The majority of NRS records are free to access for all. Most records are original and can only be viewed in the NRS Historical Search Room.

No specific financial assistance is available to volunteers and researchers who wish to access the records of patients who died while being treated at former psychiatric hospitals.

There is no centralised public record that provides the exact number of people buried in unmarked graves in Scotland. National Records Scotland (NRS) collects data on all deaths in Scotland, but it does not publish statistics specifically on unmarked graves.

The Scottish Government does not currently have any plans in place to remember former patients of historic asylums who were buried in unmarked graves. Details of any burial carried out in a burial ground by a burial authority are recorded in the statutory burial register so that the deceased are not forgotten.

The exact number of facilities in Scotland that can perform cataract surgery is not centrally held. Table 1 lists NHS hospitals in Scotland where cataract procedures were performed in 2024, as recorded in either the inpatient or outpatient datasets.

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of all locations in Scotland where cataract procedures are performed. Only locations where procedures were both carried out and recorded are included. Some National Treatment Centres may not appear in the table if they do not have a unique location code or if they operate as extensions of existing locations.

Information on procedures paid for privately, either by the patient or a private insurer, with no NHS involvement, is not available to Public Health Scotland.

Table 1: NHS hospitals where cataract procedures were performed in 2024.

Under the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011 (legislation.gov.uk), an eligible patient is to start to receive agreed treatment within the 12-week Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG). Health Boards must take all reasonable steps to ensure they comply with this legislative guarantee.

However, the pandemic has seen the NHS under the most severe pressure in its 77-year existence. Pausing of non-urgent activity has inevitably led to a build-up of both the number of patients waiting for treatment as well as increasing the length of wait for patients.

We know many people are still waiting too long and this is not good enough. We are determined do more and our Budget which will provide a record £21.7 billion for health and social care, with more than £110 million allocated to health boards to help tackle the longest waits for procedures and operations. This includes more than £12 million for ophthalmology.

This funding means 213,000 more appointments will be delivered this year than in 2024-25, exceeding our Programme for Government target of delivering 150,000 extra appointments by more than 60,000. By March 2026, we expect no-one to wait longer than 12 months for a new outpatient appointment, inpatient treatment or day case treatment.

Following the UK National Screening Committee’s recommendation for a targeted lung cancer screening program, the Scottish Government established a Scottish Expert Advisory Group for lung screening to provide advice on the scoping, implementation, establishment and delivery of a targeted lung cancer screening programme within Scotland.

The group concluded that due to the complexities of rolling out a lung screening programme, which were also recognised by the UK NSC, it will take 7-10 years for a full programme to be implemented. Complexities include establishing necessary resources and infrastructure; developing a robust diagnostic pathway; and understanding the implications for wider health services, for example, as a result of incidental findings.

In our Population Health Plan, published in June, the Scottish Government announced a lung screening pilot, which will be developed by Screening Oversight and Assurance Scotland (SOAS). SOAS will also prepare for a phased implementation of targeted lung cancer screening.

The Scottish Government has committed to a lung screening pilot in response to the outcomes from the Scottish Expert Advisory Group; this is expected to support the phased roll out of a national lung screening programme. A targeted lung screening programme will improve early detection, reduce health inequalities and support better outcomes for those at highest risk. The LungScot study generated valuable evidence and insights into identifying individuals at high risk of lung cancer, and its findings will help to guide the development of a national lung screening programme. A dedicated focus on some of the most deprived areas will be vital to inform the way a national programme is targeted and managed so that lung screening truly does tackle the unfair and unequal outcomes associated with lung cancer.

The Scottish Government has provided funding to Screening Oversight and Assurance Scotland (SOAS) to plan and oversee the pilot, and to begin preparations for a national roll out. A pilot will enable us to test a national delivery model, gain deeper insights into effective implementation strategies and explore alternative approaches to boost uptake and participation. It will also enable screening to begin earlier in areas experiencing the highest levels of socio-economic deprivation, as evidence shows these individuals are at higher risk of lung cancer and have higher mortality rates. We will continue collaborating with colleagues across the NHS and partner agencies to ensure the effective rollout of lung screening, while exploring ways to minimise the impact on services further along the treatment pathway. The details of the pilot are still under development and will be shared in due course.