Chamber and committees

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.

I understand that the Royal College of Ophthalmologists has recently written to Stephen Kinnock MP, Minister of State for Care, calling for a review into the use and oversight of independent sector providers for NHS-funded cataract surgery in NHS England.

NHS Scotland continues to make best use of existing NHS resources and capacity. Our National Treatment Centres (NTC) programme provides additional protected elective capacity and infrastructure for ophthalmic activity and a number of Health Boards also have additional cataract slots at Golden Jubilee National Hospital.

While NHS Scotland makes limited use of the independent sector, in certain circumstances limited use of alternative providers, including independent sector providers, may be required in response to capacity constraints.

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The reason for this is that to locate and retrieve that information we would need to conduct a search of all correspondence received by the Scottish Government.

Under the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011, 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 long-term impacts of the pandemic, as well as acute seasonal pressures and unprecedented levels of inflation across the public sector, has seen the NHS under the most severe pressure in its 77-year existence. This has affected almost all aspects of NHS care, including the number of planned care appointments and procedures the health service has been able to provide.

Our Budget will provide more than £110 million to health boards to increase capacity and address backlogs of treatment as we work towards achieving the 12 week TTG.

We have also committed to clearing all waits in all specialities over 52 weeks by March 2026.

The Scottish Government commissioned a Scottish Expert Advisory Group (SEAG) to inform implementation considerations for a targeted Lung Cancer screening programme. The purpose of the SEAG was to support the work of the UK NSC Lung Task Group, and to consider outputs from the Task Group and their application in Scotland.

The Group has provided the Scottish Government with an evaluation of costs and considerations, and have estimated set up costs at approximately £36 million for a national programme. This cost accounts for the resources and equipment required. The estimated annual cost of the screening programme is between £29 million and £39 million, dependant on a number of factors including screening uptake, once the programme is fully implemented. This estimate includes the cost of staffing required across various components of the screening pathway.

The pilot announced in our Population Health Framework will support further refinement of these costs, as well as ensuring a dedicated focus on inequalities.

The Scottish Government is grateful to Professor David Weller for his work on the LungScot study, which has provided valuable evidence and insights into identifying individuals at high risk of lung cancer. The findings of the study informed the work of the Scottish Expert Advisory Group for lung screening, of which Professor Weller was a valued member.

We acknowledge the importance and benefits of early diagnosis of lung screening, and recognise that evidence shows that lung screening can save lives. It is on this basis that we have announced a pilot for targeted lung screening in our Population Health Framework, published in June this year, as part of the work towards a phased roll out of a national targeted lung screening programme.

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.

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.

Supporting families through access to high quality, affordable and accessible childcare is critical to the First Minister’s mission of eradicating child poverty. That is why, since 2021, the Scottish Government has prioritised investment of £1 billion per year in funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) for all 3- and 4-year-olds, 5-year-olds whose entry to primary school has been deferred, and those 2-year-olds who need it most.

Scotland is the only part of the UK to already offer 1,140 hours a year of funded ELC to all 3 and 4-year-olds and eligible 2-year-olds regardless of their parents’ working status – putting children first. If families paid for this offer themselves, it would cost them more than £6,000 per eligible child per year.

Scotland continues to face one of the most difficult public spending environments since devolution. Despite this the Scottish Government remains committed to reaching more younger children with funded ELC that need it most, and the Programme for Government, published on 6 May 2025, set out that this year we will work with local authorities to maximise uptake of our existing offer for eligible 2-year-olds to ensure that as many children as possible benefit from the current offer.

In terms of planning for a future potential expansion, we are investing up to £16 million over 2 years within 23 Early Adopter Communities (EACs), across 6 local authority areas. The EACs are helping the Scottish Government and our local partners to understand what it takes to deliver childcare systems that support families with children from the early years to the end of primary school. This work is expanding access to affordable childcare for low-income families with children and evaluating the difference this can make.

It is important to recognise that the UK Government’s offer is not an expansion of universal childcare for all children under three. The new entitlement is only available to working families in England - those where parents earn at least the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage and work for 16 hours a week on average. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has made clear that, despite billions of investment by the UK Government, “the poorest one third of families will see almost no direct benefit from the new entitlements”. The difference in entitlements between the UK Government and Scottish Government reflects the Scottish Government’s policy intention that access to more hours of funded ELC is an investment in all children’s later outcomes - underpinned by national and international evidence.

I can confirm that the initial release of an online app for Health and Social Care will be in December 2025. This is set out in our Operational Improvement Plan, as well as in the answer to question S6W-38145 on 11 June 2025.

Secure login using a unique ID through Scot Account

• Receive digital letters from the dermatology team
• View dermatology appointments
• Access personal health information, including demographics, medications and allergies
• Use a national service finder to locate health and care services