Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19744 on‎ 17 July 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government is currently working closely with Public Health Scotland (PHS) to improve the data landscape across the NHS Health Boards in Scotland. Comprehensive data is vital to enable Boards to plan services and create appropriate care pathways. Many individuals accessing services do not initially have a diagnosis, but instead have general presentations.

In April 2019, to better understand the prevalence of specific conditions, referral outcomes, and patient demographics, the Scottish Government commissioned national patient-level data for people seeking and receiving treatment in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and Psychological Therapies (PT) services. This is known as the CAMHS and PT National Dataset (CAPTND). IT systems in some Boards will require significant overhaul to enable the recording and extraction of the full dataset. Directors of eHealth are liaising with system suppliers and embedded PHS analysts to prioritise this work as part of the £0.5m digital infrastructure, applications and data package announced in September 2021.

The Scottish Government is providing support to primary care services in their implementation of Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Standard 7 through three routes:

The first is through our ringfencing £30m as set out in our Cross Government Plan, over the course of 3 years, from the Scottish Government’s Enhanced Services Allocation to NHS territorial Boards, from April 2023, in order to accelerate the adoption of Enhanced Services for drug services across Scotland. Local areas will be asked to prioritise use of this funding to improve outcomes for people who use drugs.

The second is through our commissioning Public Health Scotland to consider and develop a reference suite of best practice models that should provide local areas with guidance on how they might adapt primary care delivery to integrate drugs services in a way that suits local needs. The material will be derived from a critical examination of international and domestic experience of drug service provision in primary care settings, including through direct consultation with delivery partners on the ground and with our Drugs Policy Clinical Advisory Group, providing insight into a breadth of applicable scenarios and solutions.

The third is through targeted support and intervention from Public Health Scotland’s MAT Implementation Support Team (MIST), who work closely with local areas to evaluate and progress implementation across the range of MAT Standards 1-10.

This year, we will publish our Culture Strategy Action Plan Refresh, which will provide progress updates on the Culture Strategy, including this commitment. It will also set out a series of tangible actions that will allow us to continue delivering the aims and ambitions of the Culture Strategy.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19744 on‎ 17 July 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

To make it easier for families to access the free reusable nappy kit that is included with the Baby Box, we are working with our Baby Box Managing Agent, APS Group Scotland, to include an electronic QR code option on the reusable nappy voucher. We anticipate the QR code being included on vouchers from September 2023.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19744 on‎ 17 July 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The timeline for MAT standard 7 ‘Primary Care’ has not been amended this year – it remains at full implementation to be completed by April 2025 as per the 2022 National Benchmarking report published by Public Health Scotland.

The MAT Implementation Support Team (MIST team) within Public Health Scotland provide support to local areas to engage with their primary care providers and will continue to do so.

The Local Partnership Forum North last met on 15 June to discuss a range of measures to enhance safety across the north of Scotland. Since then a range of additional targeted safety camera resources have been deployed at locations across the region, including the North Coast 500, to encourage good driver behaviour and enhanced levels of speed limit compliance.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19744 on‎ 17 July 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers