Chamber and committees

The number of patients who have waited over 12 weeks for Trauma and Orthopaedic surgery in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Ayrshire and Arran are published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) on a quarterly basis. These details are available on PHS’s website and can be found in table 1.2 through the following link: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/8811/newop_aug21.xlsx

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) liaises closely with colleagues from National Services Division (NSD) in NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) to share intelligence on emerging new medicines that may require a companion diagnostic test. NSD has commissioning responsibility for the Scottish Genetic Laboratories and is currently conducting a review of NHS Scotland genomics services which includes the Scottish genomic test directory and genomics infrastructure. The review is expected to be complete by the end of March 2022.

The SMC also provides early horizon scanning reports to the Molecular Pathology Evaluation Panel on medicines in clinical development and shares information on the anticipated timelines for these medicines to be granted a marketing authorisation and then be assessed by the SMC. The SMC horizon scanning reports are also supporting ongoing work with NSD, the Scottish Genomics Leadership Group and the Scottish Genetics Laboratory Consortium to understand the laboratory capacity requirements for current and future medicines requiring a companion diagnostic test.

As announced by HM Treasury on 14 November 2016, the Scottish Government's population-based settlement from the UK Government's Apprenticeship Levy was £221 million in 2017-18, £230 million in 2018-19 and £239 million in 2019-20. This funding was allocated as part of the block grant.

From 2020-21 there has been no notional allocation of Apprenticeship Levy revenue included in the block grant and the normal operation of the Barnett Formula has provided a similar outcome. The UK Government collects the Levy and has details on who is liable to pay it and what revenue is accrued, with the Scottish Government not being responsible for this information.

Future allocations from the Apprenticeship Levy will be received as part of the block grant, and we have no advance notice of what this will be.

Pension Credit is reserved to the UK Government and, therefore, the Scottish Government has not corresponded with local authorities or COSLA in relation to raising awareness about claiming pension credit or supporting people to do so.

The Scottish Government funds the Citizens Advice Network in Scotland to deliver the Money Talk Team Income Maximisation Service. This is a money advice service that includes advice about all benefits, including pension credit. We have undertaken three national marketing campaigns to make people aware of the service.

The NHS Recovery Plan, launched on 25 August and backed by over £1 billion of additional investment, strives to recover NHS performance over the 5 years of this Parliament in order to ensure Treatment Time Guarantees and other waiting time standards can be met by every Health Board across Scotland.

Dealing with the direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic has resulted in the most significant challenge in 73 year existence of the NHS.

While it is not possible to anticipate when NHS Scotland will begin meeting the TTG in all instances, we know that it will take time and a series of targeted actions to build back capacity and redesign patient pathways to bring waiting times back within targets.

The National Services Division (NSD) in NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) have commissioning responsibility for the Scottish Genetic Laboratories. NSD are currently conducting a review of NHS Scotland’s genomic services which includes a review of the Scottish genomic test directory and genomics infrastructure. The review is expected to be completed by the end of the 2021-2022 financial year.

The outcomes from the review will be considered by the Scottish Genomics Leadership Group (SGLG), chaired jointly by Professor David Crossman, Chief Scientist for Health for the Scottish Government, and Susan Buchanan, NSD Director, who are supporting the Scottish Government in ensuring appropriate planning and robust decision-making processes are in place for genetic testing availability in Scotland.

In addition, the SGLG and NSD are working closely with the Scottish Genetics Laboratory Consortium and the Scottish Medicines Consortium to understand the laboratory capacity requirements for current and future medicines requiring a companion diagnostic test.

Recovering our NHS is our top priority. Addressing the backlog of care, while continuing to meet the ongoing urgent health and care needs of the country, is the central aim of our NHS Recovery Plan.

The Plan is backed by over £1 billion of additional investment to support delivery of improvements throughout the 5 years of this Parliament. Amongst other things, it will increase primary care investment by 25% and restore face to face consultations in GP surgeries. It will reduce A&E attendances by 15% to 20% and increase outpatient capacity by 10% compared to pre-Covid levels.

While it is not possible to determine when NHS performance will return to pre-pandemic levels, we will continue to work to identify ways of adding additional activity, through new facilities or through improvements to existing ways of working in order to reduce the length of time patients are waiting and bring waiting times back within standards.

The National Services Division (NSD) in NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) have commissioning responsibility for the Scottish Genetic Laboratories. NSD are currently conducting a review of NHS Scotland’s genomics services which includes reviewing the Scottish genomic test directory and genomics infrastructure. The review is expected to be completed by the end of the 2021-2022 financial year.

The outcomes from the review will be considered by the Scottish Genomics Leadership Group, chaired jointly by Professor David Crossman, Chief Scientist for Health for the Scottish Government, and Susan Buchanan, NSD Director. This Group are supporting the Scottish Government in ensuring appropriate planning and robust decision-making processes are in place for genetic testing availability in Scotland.

Should the review highlight an inequity of access for Scottish patients for specific genetic tests, NSD will work with the Scottish Genomics Leadership Group to resolve the matter as soon as possible.

Flu and COVID-19 are completely different diseases caused by different viruses and is why there are different recommendations for those who are eligible for flu vaccination and those who should be offered both COVID-19 and flu vaccination.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination & Immunisation (JCVI) is a scientific committee and they give advice based on scientific evidence, with a number of in-depth considerations and recommendations made on COVID-19 published recently.

The evidence is clear that people with asthma are at a higher risk of flu related complications but this is not true for COVID-19 unless they are on repeated courses of oral steroid medication. This means that the vast majority of asthmatics are not at a higher risk of COVID-19 disease or its complications.

We are taking forward a number of recommendations made by the Short Life Working Group on Ventilation in order to improve airflow in settings where transmission of Covid-19 is most likely to occur. As the First Minister stated when she announced this £25 million package of funding, the support will focus on the hospitality and leisure sectors although the specific sectors and premises that will be eligible for financial support through this fund is still being determined and community halls are being actively considered as part of this process.