Chamber and committees

Although the deaths of the two captive-bred wildcats, who died after their release into Cairngorms National Park, is disappointing, these deaths need to be set in context. They bring the total deaths to date to three from a release of 28 wildcats since last year.

Conditions this year have been more challenging due to poor weather and this year representing a low point in the vole population cycle, which are one of the wildcats’ main prey species.

Some mortality is expected in reintroduction projects (as we would also expect in the wild population), with the current rate at the lower end of what we would anticipate. The survival rate of the wildcats released last year has been much higher than anticipated, and wild births have also increased wildcat numbers in the area.

This is down to the extensive planning and efforts of the Scottish Wildcat Action project and its partners to ensure that released wildcats have the best possible chance of survival following their release. The Saving Wildcats field team closely monitor all of the released wildcats using GPS-radio collars and a network of camera traps, and have been providing them with supplementary food in the weeks immediately after their release.?

The UK clinical guidelines for alcohol treatment (UKCGAT) will help to influence the national specification and subsequent overarching guidance for alcohol treatment in Scotland through looking to introduce new approaches to treatment and will apply to a broad range of settings including primary care, hospital and justice settings.

The UKCGAT aims to develop a clear consensus on good practice and help services to implement interventions for alcohol use disorders that are recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). The intention is to promote and support consistent good practice and improve the quality-of-service provision, resulting in better outcomes, similarly to the Orange Book supporting treatment for drugs misuse and dependency.

Every life lost to alcohol is a tragedy and the recent alcohol specific deaths statistics published by the National Records of Scotland is a stark reminder of the challenge we continue to face in tackling alcohol harm across Scotland.

The Scottish Government continues to prevent alcohol harm including continuing and increasing the minimum unit price of alcohol. Minimum unit pricing has been estimated to have saved hundreds of lives since it was first implemented in 2018 and the steps taken by this Government are expected to continue and increase the positive health effects of the policy. The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care has also set out the next steps for progressing work on alcohol marketing, which also seeks to develop further preventative approaches to reducing alcohol harm.

To support people already drinking at hazardous and harmful levels the Scottish Government provided record investment to ADPs in the 2024-2025 financial year. In addition to this we are currently developing a national treatment specification for alcohol treatment in Scotland which will look to build on the work of the forthcoming UK Clinical Guidelines for Alcohol Treatment. The Scottish Government also supports innovation to develop best practice on tackling alcohol harm including projects such as the Managed Alcohol Programme and the Primary Care Alcohol Nurse Outreach Service which has recently been embedded into mainstream services in Glasgow City ADP.

For the development of the national specification for alcohol and drug services, initial engagement has begun with representative groups covering service commissioners, service providers and people who use, have used or could use the services.

We have invited relevant stakeholders to be part of the national specification and overarching guidance reference group which we will continue to engage with during development. This includes stakeholders with lived experience.

The then Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing issued a letter to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) supporting the release of Alcohol Focus Scotland’s guidance on undertaking alcohol death reviews on 24 September 2020. The letter asked that ADPs undertake an alcohol death review every three years.

A Ministerial Working Group, chaired by myself, has been set up to support the Scottish Government in considering the Grenfell Inquiry Phase 2 Report and how its 58 recommendations could apply in a Scottish context. Where necessary, we will take further action to address building safety.

The Scottish Government will consider each recommendation and its supporting evidence in order to prepare a response on the matters for which it has responsibility. A report will be prepared by Spring 2025.

Engagement with Ministers in the UK Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Assembly will take place throughout this process.

A delayed discharge occurs when a hospital patient (aged 18 or over) who is clinically ready for discharge from inpatient hospital care continues to occupy a hospital bed beyond the date they are ready for discharge. Public Health Scotland hold data relating to people aged 18 and over affected by delayed discharge.

Data for August 2024 is not yet available as it is due to be published on 1 October 2024. Therefore Table 1 presents the total number of people aged 18 or over who faced a period of delay, for any reason, in NHS Western Isles between 1 January and 31 July 2024.

Table 1: Number of people1 who faced a period of delay in NHS Western Isles hospitals in the period 1 January 2024 to 31 July 2024, by age group.

The National Mission was established to improve and save lives of people impacted by drugs. However, given that many of the improvements to services, such as residential rehabilitation, included as part of the Mission are integrated for both alcohol and drugs, the work of the Mission has always been helping save and improve the lives of people impacted by alcohol as well. There is also a significant cohort of people whose lives have been impacted by both alcohol and drugs.