Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has had no specific discussions with Police Scotland about this issue.

There are a range of options available to women who require transvaginal mesh removal surgery. A contract with Spire Healthcare, where Professor Hashim operates, was agreed earlier this year and arrangements for the first patients to travel to Bristol are underway. Furthermore, the Scottish Government can now also confirm that a contract has been agreed with Gynaecologic and Reconstructive Surgery Ltd, Missouri, USA, where Dr Veronikis operates. NHS National Services Scotland will now work closely with NHS GGC and local Health Boards to facilitate the arrangements for those who wish to travel to Bristol or to the USA for mesh removal surgery.

These additional options, alongside the potential for referral to NHS England services, complement the Complex Pelvic Mesh Removal Service in Glasgow. Despite Covid-19, we were able to introduce that service on a phased basis and a number of patients have been seen in the intervening period and have had surgeries carried out. It is expected that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde will work towards improving waiting times as services begin to open up more fully.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08949 on 26 July 2022. 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 .

Through the Women’s Health Plan, we want all women to have timely access to menopause support and services. For those who need specialist support beyond primary care, there is now a specialist menopause service in every mainland NHS Board.

For women living in the areas of Island health boards there is a “buddy” system in place. This system allows Island GPs and health practitioners to seek advice from one of the mainland menopause specialist services to support their more complex patients. Alternatively, they can refer patients to one of the mainland services, if they meet the referral criteria. Consultations take the form of a discussion, usually by phone or video, meaning patients do not routinely need to travel to the mainland.

The National Menopause Specialists Network complements this service and meets regularly to provide consistent advice and peer support to health care professionals across Scotland.

The project commenced in 2019 however further field work and laboratory analysis scheduled during 2020 were affected by COVID-19 restrictions. This had a knock on effect, delaying the remaining stages of the project, including quality control of the data and writing the report. The report is now finalised and will be published soon.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the mental health of women and girls with autism and to this end we work with and support autism charities, including the Autistic Persons Organisation Scottish Women’s Autism Network (SWAN). Our Toward Transformation plan published March 2021 and Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan published in October 2020 both reflect this.

Lived experience sits at the heart of our new leadership and engagement work and is threaded through all of our processes. This empowers autistic people and people with learning disabilities to be leaders in transforming policy in Scotland by bringing them together with people who are responsible for providing services nationally and locally.

Workshops have taken place to discuss the Mental Health experiences and needs of autistic people, including autistic women’s experiences of mental health. These views will be fed into national workshops in the coming months, where solutions will be discussed to improve the lives of autistic people and people with learning disabilities.

As outlined in the Programme for Government 2021 – 22 A Fairer, Greener Scotland: Programme for Government 2021-22 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) published in September 2021, the Scottish Government is committed to establishing a dignified and compassionate miscarriage service. As part of this, the Scottish Government wants to ensure that NHS Boards are able to provide dedicated facilities for women who are experiencing unexpected pregnancy complications.

This aligns with the commitments set out in Womens-Health-Plan-2021-2024 in regards to women experiencing miscarriage and unexpected pregnancy complications.

The Scottish Government has provided £9,144,964 to Health Boards for the provision of smoking cessation services.

This funding is calculated on the basis of smoking rates and deprivation and is used to provide the free Quit Your Way service. This service includes an interactive website, offering expert advice and support to those seeking to quit tobacco products. Local support services and access to a range of free medications and products are provided to help people stop smoking.

Litigation is ongoing and external costs will be published on a regular basis. We will publish initial data on spending in September, and on a quarterly basis thereafter, until the conclusion of the litigation.

Any decision on whether or not to introduce a new national screening programme in Scotland is guided by the recommendations of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group which advises all four nations of the United Kingdom on screening policy. In 2017, the UK NSC recommended against the introduction of a Group B Streptococcus (GBS) screening programme. If a recommendation is made by the UK NSC to introduce GBS screening then the Scottish Screening Committee, in consultation with medical experts in this field, will advise Scottish Ministers on the most appropriate course of action for Scotland.

The GBS3 clinical trial , run by the Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit, is looking to gather evidence on whether a universal screening programme would be both clinically and cost effective. The UK NSC will review the evidence for screening once findings from the GBS3 clinical trial are published and the Scottish Screening Committee will give careful consideration to any recommendation the NSC makes. All NHS Boards have been made aware of the opportunity to participate in the GBS3 trial.