The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 798 contributions
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 23 April 2024
Jenni Minto
I have had no discussions on that topic, but I will bear in mind what Michelle Thomson has said and respond to her in writing.
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 17 April 2024
Jenni Minto
The Scottish Government is already supporting NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, as provider of the young people’s gender service, and NHS National Services Scotland to consider how best to provide specialist young people’s gender care in Scotland. That is part of the implementation of the “NHS gender identity services: strategic action framework 2022-2024”. Last week, the independent review of gender identity services for children and young people, chaired by Dr Hilary Cass, published its final report. The findings of the review into services in NHS England are being closely considered by both the Scottish Government and wider partners.
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 17 April 2024
Jenni Minto
I reiterate that the Government, our officials and senior clinicians are reviewing the report. I do not think that it is appropriate to respond quickly. We have to do that in the appropriate time, so that we understand exactly what the implications are of the Cass review to gender identity services in Scotland. I want to make sure that we put the children, their families and the clinicians at the centre of that work.
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 17 April 2024
Jenni Minto
I agree with Gillian Mackay entirely that it is the young people who we have to put at the centre of this, and we have to ensure that they get the support that they need. I am pleased that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Sandyford are still providing that support to young people and their families through a multidisciplinary team.
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 17 April 2024
Jenni Minto
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that everyone living with diabetes can access clinically appropriate, safe, effective and person-centred healthcare treatment and support. The implementation of the diabetes improvement plan is overseen by the Scottish diabetes group. Delivery is under way on work on improving diabetes education, prevention of foot ulceration, in-patient care and supporting people with diabetes during and after pregnancy. A key commitment in the plan is to increase access to diabetes technology. Since 2021, the Scottish Government has provided £19 million of additional funding to national health service boards to support that commitment.
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 17 April 2024
Jenni Minto
I sympathise with the situation that Sarah Boyack’s constituents find themselves in. I am happy to meet her and her constituents to hear directly about how the situation is impacting them, and to continue discussions with the clinical leads, as we do on a regular basis.
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 17 April 2024
Jenni Minto
As Meghan Gallacher pointed out, it is a long report but very much worth reading. It is very accessible and I encourage as many people as possible to read it. We—the Scottish Government, our officials and our senior clinicians—are all looking at what the report contains and we will give an initial view on that as soon as possible.
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 17 April 2024
Jenni Minto
I note that behind every headline there are children, parents, carers and clinicians who are all impacted. I agree with Bill Kidd and reiterate the Government’s absolute commitment to improving the lives of trans people living in Scotland. In order to improve access to and delivery of gender identity healthcare in Scotland, we have invested more than £2.8 million since December 2022, of which £2.2 million is being allocated directly to NHS health boards with gender identity clinics to support local improvement work—in particular, to address waiting times and service capacity.
As I said, we are working with Healthcare Improvement Scotland to develop national standards for gender identity healthcare and we are supporting NHS National Education Scotland to develop new training materials for staff.
Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: 17 April 2024
Jenni Minto
Between 2016 and 2022, we invested £29.6 million specifically for diabetes technologies. That was in addition to baseline funding to NHS boards. In 2023, we also invested £350,000 to pilot a national on-boarding pathway to support the roll-out across Scotland. That funding supports people—including more than 1,700 children—who live with type 1 diabetes to access life-changing technologies, such as insulin pumps.
We know that there is a lot more that we can do to increase access to diabetes technology, and we continue to work with key stakeholders to determine the best way to do that and how to fund it.