Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is focussed on delivering the commitments set out in our NHS Recovery Plan, published in August 2021.

With regard to cataracts, the Scottish Government is working with Health Boards to undertake additional pre-assessment clinics to assess those patients referred for consideration of surgery. In tandem, Boards are implementing new and more efficient ways of working, including virtual appointments and via telephone to prevent unnecessary visits and travel to hospitals.

The independent sector is also supporting additional cataract surgeries across a number of Health Board areas. In particular, over 3,500 additional surgeries were undertaken by the Independent Sector at NHS Golden Jubilee (NHSGJ) in 21-22, and will continue to deliver an additional 1,000 surgeries in 22-23. Plans are also in place to enable a number of Boards to utilise available capacity at NHSGJ using their own surgeons, who will undertake cataract surgery at the facility. This will allow patients access to treatment more quickly, as well as offering opportunities for training junior surgeons.

The Centre of Sustainable Delivery has been commissioned to support surgical teams across NHSScotland to implement the guidance issued by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. This will increase efficiency and productivity across cataract-only surgical sessions, and high-volume surgery in cataract treatment centres.

We are working closely with Boards to finalise planned care activity plans, including for orthopaedics, for 2022-23 which will be critical to stabilising and improving our health and social care system in the medium term.

The National Treatment Centre (NTC) Programme will deliver the single biggest increase in protected planned care capacity ever created in NHS Scotland. The network of 10 NTCs, will deliver capacity for over 40,000 additional planned procedures and diagnostic care across 12 specialities. Within the next 18 months, NTCs will open in NHS Fife, NHS Forth Valley, NHS Highland and at NHS Golden Jubilee specialising in orthopaedic surgery. On 13 April, we also announced £1.8m of funding to purchase a private hospital in Ayrshire (Carrick Glen) to be developed into a new National Treatment Centre specialising in orthopaedics.

As well as significant investment in new infrastructure, the new NHSScotland Centre for Sustainable Delivery is also leading work to explore new and innovative ideas to reduce In Patient / Day Case and Outpatient waiting times. Examples include:

• The rollout of Active Clinical Referral Triage, to provide patients with information about non-surgical interventions and self-management options;
• Patient Initiated Reviews, enabling patients to be escalated if their condition deteriorates and reduces routine appointments while supporting patients in a safe and clinically appropriate manner; and
• Enhanced Recovery after Surgery pathways, designed to support patients achieve faster recovery after surgery.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) uses the national waiting times warehouse to collect electronic patient records covering the waits that patients experience waiting for a new outpatient appointment. This data source can be used routinely to identify the specialty of treatment, such as whether the patient was waiting for an appointment in ophthalmology or orthopaedics. However, it is not possible to ascertain whether the appointment involved an assessment of whether the patient is suitable for a particular procedure. This level of information may be held locally by NHS Boards.

Statistics relating to the waits patients experience for new outpatient appointments, at specialty and NHS Board level, are published up to 31 December 2021 and can be found using the following link:

https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/11694/newop_feb22.xlsx .

Before we made the decision to lift remaining legal measures and close the Highest Risk list, we and our clinical advisers carefully considered the impact on people who are immunosuppressed or immunocompromised. There is strong evidence to show that the vaccine is offering significant protection and preventing the majority of people whose immune systems are suppressed or compromised from becoming severely ill if they are infected with COVID-19.

We know that the degree of protection offered by the vaccines wanes over time, which is why booster vaccinations are needed to maintain the best protection against COVID-19 for those at highest risk of the severe effects of the virus. Second booster appointments for people with suppressed immune systems have already started.

However, we are also aware that for some of this group, it is not possible to mount a full immune response due to their medication, treatment or health condition.

Many immunosuppressed or immunocompromised individuals lived with and managed the risk posed by other diseases and infections before the COVID-19 pandemic, and will continue to be advised by their GP and specialist clinical team, who best know their individual circumstances, on how to reduce their risk of infection from both COVID-19 and other viruses. We’ve also made new treatments available to those who are eligible for them who will benefit the most – including some people who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed .

The Scottish Government is determined to maximise the economic opportunity for the Scottish supply chain from our offshore wind potential.

We will drive forward offshore wind skills development – working with stakeholders to focus on the opportunities for diversification and skills transfer from our oil and gas sector, in line with our commitment to a Just Transition.

The introduction of ScotWind’s Supply Chain Development Statements demonstrates how serious the Scottish Government is about holding developers to account if they do not honour their supply chain commitments and create green jobs .

Progress continues to be made by officials carrying out this request. The information will be placed on the Parliament’s Reference Centre as soon as this is available.

I can confirm that the development and assessment of the route corridor options for the A82 Tarbet to Inverarnan scheme, including the option passing above the West Highland line, was undertaken by Transport Scotland in alignment with the principles of the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) and the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB).

The Scottish Government has not conducted research in this area.

The Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) has carried out extensive consultation on the draft National Park Partnership Plan (NPPP), which was supported by extensive evidence papers and a Strategic Environmental Assessment. The consultation process generated 1400 responses (the largest ever response to a Park Plan consultation). Fifty percent of the responses came from people in the Park, with over 10% of responses from land managers. The CNPA board is currently reviewing the consultation responses and considering what changes need to be made to the draft plan in response to this consultation.

The Cairngorms National Park Partnership Plan sets out a bold vision to restore nature in the Park, tackle the climate emergency and build a wellbeing economy that works for all the people of the Cairngorms. The Plan will create significant opportunities for those working in the land management sector, as well as additional jobs in environmental restoration and management, including, for example, peatland restoration, river restoration, species management, and habitat enhancement.

The information in this response has been provided by Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS).

The reports listed in the following table are currently being assessed to determine if further quality assurance/peer review is required to ensure data remains valid and useful. This assessment includes liaising with any relevant partner organisations