Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. National Procurement Scotland are responsible for the service level agreement with stoma manufacturers.

Scottish Government does not centrally hold data for all hospital acquired infection deaths by Health Board, due to patient identifiable information.

2000 to 2020 data for registered deaths due to Clostridioides difficile infection and MRSA is available from National Records of Scotland (NRS) can be found here and here .

However, it should be noted that although publically available details also broken down by Health Board, the data does not make the distinction between hospital acquired or community acquired infection.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information and we would expect individual NHS Boards to consider and implement this funding locally.

The national procurement process responsibility is undertaken by NHS National Services Scotland for stoma care product suppliers and managing supplies to NHS Boards across Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to earlier questions: S6W-06594, S6W-06595 on 1 March 2022.

Guidance will be included on vaccination appointment letters, signposting people to additional support should it be required. Additionally, if people need any additional support at their vaccine appointment, they can call the National Vaccination Helpline on 0800 030 8013 to discuss. Information on the COVID-19 vaccine is available in a range of different formats on NHS Inform , including in audio, easy read and large print. Scottish Government continues to engage regularly with key autism stakeholders including the National Autistic Society and Scottish Autism around our approach to managing COVID-19 and its associated harms .

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 Stoma Care Quality and Cost Effectiveness Review, in 2016, and the National Stoma Quality Improvement Short Life Working Group (NSQIG), in 2019 recommended that NHS Boards who currently do not have an established Stoma Forum should consider this. The Scottish Government was not represented on the NSQIG and the recommendation was for NHS Boards to consider.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information and we expect individual NHS Boards to consider and implement this recommendation locally.

The first generic version of sapropterin has recently received a Marketing Authorisation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Healthcare Improvement Scotland are working to provide updated advice to Boards to enable routine prescribing of Sapropterin. We expect this to be in place in April. In the meantime, doctors can request access to medicines that are not generally available on the NHS on an individual case-by-case basis through local health board medicine governance processes.

Once again, I want to thank our health and care staff for their magnificent work to date. The last few months have been enormously difficult and our health and care services are continuing to deal with a challenging combination of issues.

As we are now moving out of what has been a challenging winter period, the system remains under significant pressure. The number of new Covid-19 cases are at a high and continue to increase as well as currently having a record high number of Covid patients in hospital. Therefore, we must continue with a measured and consistent approach to the recovery and renewal of the vital service that we all rely upon. This will require balancing the capacity of the NHS and the wellbeing of our workforce to respond to increasing demands of emergency and urgent care, whilst reducing the backlog of planned care.

As we move through the next phase of the Strategic Framework, we will continue to support our NHS Boards to deliver against commitments in the NHS Recovery Plan and associated Delivery Plans to enable our NHS to plan and prepare the future delivery of health and social care services to our communities. We are confident that we have continued to build on lessons learned and that NHS Boards will be able to respond appropriately to any further challenges which lie ahead.

However, with that in mind, I have decided that the NHS will remain on emergency footing until at least 30 April 2022.

Additional support needs, as defined under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) Act 2004 (as amended), arise if a child or young person is, or is likely to be, unable without the provision of additional support to benefit from school education. An additional support need can be of short or long-term duration. Under the Act, education authorities are required to identify, provide for and to review the additional support needs of their pupils. Local authorities are supported to carry out their duties under the Act by the statutory Supporting Learners’ Code of Practice.

Under the Act, a formal diagnosis is not required in order for support to be provided. The Pupil census: supplementary statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) , published on 15 March 2022 includes the latest information and a local authority level breakdown of the reasons why additional support was provided. The data collected does not distinguish between support not being provided and a need being identified and support not being in place.

The Scottish Government is committed to understanding the health inequalities faced by people experiencing homelessness, and improving the way health and housing services work together to promote an integrated and holistic model of care.

GP registration is the main way to gain access to the vast majority of NHS healthcare services. The Scottish Government published patient registration guidance in September 2018 clarifying that patients do not require proof of identity or address to register with a general practice. The inability by a patient to provide identification or proof of address is not considered reasonable grounds to refuse or delay registering a patient.

We know that poor health is both a cause and a consequence of homelessness and that is why homelessness must be seen as both a housing and a health matter. In recognition of the need for collective responsibility across public services to prevent homelessness, we are consulting on plans to introduce new homelessness prevention duties, including on public bodies in health and social care, to ask about a person’s housing circumstances and act where a problem is identified.

The audit will provide enhanced information on where empty properties are located to help determine the prospects of bringing them back into use and enable better targeting and design of future interventions. The scoping exercise is currently underway and we anticipate that the audit will complete in early 2023.