Chamber and committees

NHS Lothian is currently developing plans for The Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion replacement project which is one ten new National Treatment Centres that form part of the National Treatment Centres (NTC) Programme.

NHS Lothian reports that progress of Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion replacement project continues at pace. Recent progress includes the successful appointment of the senior project team and work to complete the exemplar building design.

The NTC Programme, which is supported by a significant investment of over £400 million investment, will create the biggest single increase in ring-fenced elective care capacity in NHS Scotland.

The new Health and Social Care Standards came into effect in April 2018. These replaced the National Care Standards and are applied to a diverse range of services, including early learning and childcare and services for children and young people. The Health and Social Care Standards were updated on 31 March 2022, following a public consultation, to include two new standards on visiting rights for care homes for adults.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07468 on 29 March 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

The National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care was published on 11 March. It is designed around the strategic objectives which support recovery, growth and transformation of health and social care services. Through the plan we have committed to modelling a sustainable cancer workforce. This work will be taken forward by a subgroup of the National Cancer Recovery Group.

Alongside the work on the National Workforce Strategy, a short life working has been established to review immediate pressures on oncology services and identify measures needed to ensure we have a sustainable and resilient oncology service across Scotland. This group is chaired by our Senior Medical Officer and is reporting directly to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care.

Two junction improvement options have been identified and assessed to identify any impacts they may have on journey times along this corridor. The assessment has also sought to take into account the impacts of emerging development in the area.

Engagement with Midlothian Council which is the responsible authority for adjoining local roads is continuing. The intention is to confirm the preferred option in due course, followed by a detailed design process to finalise the junction layout to take into account the site constraints at this location.

The Scottish Government currently publishes a range of intersectional equality data, for example Scottish Household Survey data can produce a variety of intersectional breakdowns where sample sizes allow. However, there remain many costs and challenges to collecting, analysing, and reporting this. Despite improvements in recent years, there remain gaps in Scotland’s equality evidence base.

The Scottish Government launched the Equality Data Improvement Programme (EDIP) in April 2021 to address these gaps. The EDIP is aligned with the Scottish Government’s wider Mainstreaming Equality and Human Rights Strategy which is currently under development and aims to make intersectional equality data more wide-ranging and robust, enabling policy makers to develop sound, inclusive policy.

Work is underway to produce equality data improvement plans for each Analytical Service Division (ASD) across the Scottish Government. These plans will be shaped by equality stakeholders and will form the basis of the next iteration of Scotland’s Equality Evidence Strategy. Better data will in turn help identify intersectional discrimination.

To share learning and good practice, the Scottish Government led an evidence review which focused on how to apply the concept of intersectionality to public sector analysis and policymaking. This review showcased examples of how organisations have collected data on intersectional discrimination and was published in March 2022.

The impact of addressing the COVID-19 pandemic has meant that many health and social care services, including some cardiology services, had to be suspended or reduced in scope and scale. In some instances, novel modes of delivery were adopted to maintain important services (for example, some local services implemented drive up clinics for pacemaker checks).

Evidence based caution has been, and continues to be, at the forefront of our decision making around the provision of services throughout the pandemic. To support this, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport published a national Clinical Prioritisation Framework for Supporting Elective Care across NHS Scotland on 16 November 2020, updated on 8 December 2021. The expectation is that NHS Boards will follow the principles of this Framework to ensure that the patients with the greatest need are treated quickest.

Furthermore, addressing the backlog of care while continuing to meet the ongoing urgent health and care needs of the country is a priority. We published an NHS Recovery Plan in August 2021 which sets out our plans for health and social care over the next 5 years and is backed by over £1 billion of funding,

Regular pacemaker checks typically take place in outpatient clinics and so it is relevant to note that the Recovery plan includes a focus on increasing outpatient activity through supporting sustainable improvements and new models of care.

We are also taking specific action to minimise preventable heart disease and ensure that everyone with suspected heart disease in Scotland has timely and equitable access to diagnosis, treatment and care, through the implementation of our Heart Disease Action Plan (2021).

In March 2018, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) issued new measures to limit exposure to sodium valproate in utero, including the adoption of a Pregnancy Prevention Programme.

Following this, new and strengthened information materials for healthcare professionals and patients have been issued, including an updated Summary of Product Characteristics and Patient Information Leaflet, new education materials for professionals, as well as updated packaging stamped with a new pictogram. Furthermore, updated guidance on the use of sodium valproate has been issued by both the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN).

Prescribers in Scotland are expected to follow current drug safety information and the new measures in relation to sodium valproate to ensure women being prescribed this medicine are fully apprised of the risks and are able to make informed decisions.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. We would advise contacting health boards to obtain this data.

The Scottish Government formally adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism in June 2017. The Scottish Government and its agencies have been expected to adhere to the definition since June 2017.

While it is not legally binding, the Scottish Government would encourage publicly funded bodies to similarly adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism, noting however that it is up to these bodies to make this decision for themselves.

Adopting the IHRA definition demonstrates a determination to tackle antisemitism and sends a strong message that it is entirely unacceptable in Scotland.