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The Scottish Government notes the findings from the Diffley Partnership report on Understanding Scotland - Economy.

The survey shows that Healthcare and the NHS has remained a high priority for survey respondents in recent years and has now overtaken the Cost of Living / Inflation as the top priority.

Improving access to healthcare is a key priority for this government. Our 2023-24 Scottish Health Budget provides record funding of over £19 billion, providing new investment of over £1 billion and supporting recovery and reform to secure sustainable public services.

As the inherited Independent Living Fund (2015 Fund) is a closed scheme, no new applications have been made since 2015. The following provides information on the number of applications to ILF Scotland’s Transition Fund since launch in December 2017.

We have noted this Prostate Cancer UK research and are discussing it with various clinicians and experts in the NHS. Currently, pre-biopsy MRIs are not mandated in Scotland. However the National Cancer Quality Steering Group utilise ‘Patients with prostate cancer who undergo biopsy should be evaluated initially with a pre-biopsy biparametric MRI (bpMRI) or multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) and reported using a PI-RADS/Likert system of gradings’ as a Quality Improvement Indicator.

In addition to this the Scottish Government is due to undertake a survey of health boards to determine the practises in this area throughout the country.

The following table sets out how many training places were advertised per year from 2018-2022, the number of posts which filled successfully, the fill rate (%) and the number of unfilled posts.

The information requested on how many NHS Scotland staff are currently employed in primarily equality and diversity-focused roles, and how much of the NHS budget has been allocated towards employing equality and diversity staff in each year since 2020 is not centrally available.

This is a matter for Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland. The information requested is not held centrally.

(a) In 2014, the Deputy First Minister committed to re-opening the Fund and provided £5.5 million per annum to enable ILF to re-open to new applicants for the first time since 2010.Through an extensive process of co-production, the ILF Scotland Transition Fund was developed as an alternative to re-opening the 2015 Fund. The Transition Fund was designed to support young disabled people with the transition to adult life. This entirely new fund opened to applications in December 2017.

(b) The Cabinet Secretary wrote to the ILF Scotland Board on 16 December 2022, 26 January 2023 and 27 February 2023 stating his support for ILF Scotland but indicating that re-opening the 2015 Fund could only progress when affordability and sustainability could be assured.

The Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care wrote to the Chair of ILF Scotland’s Advisory Group on 23 January 2023 stating that he remains committed to re-opening the 2015 Fund but is unable to do so due to financial constraints.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) in Scotland are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

In regards to the Scotland-specific overview, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13419 on 23 January 2023.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government recognises that while more people are being diagnosed with cancer, more people are also being cured and living longer with the illness, thanks to the many new and established treatments now available. The increasing numbers of cases is also a simple reflection of the fact that people are, overall, living longer. Clearly our NHS remains under pressure, but more patients are being treated on cancer pathways than was the case prior to the pandemic.

The Scottish Government is developing a new 10 year cancer strategy to launch in Spring this year, which will take a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways, from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment and post-treatment care. This will be supported by an initial 3-year action plan.

The strategy will include a new earlier diagnosis vision for Scotland as well as a robust workforce strategy and ambitions aimed at strengthening research and innovation and eradicating inequalities.

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 Scottish Government, Health Boards and National Services Scotland (NSS) maintain regular contact on reducing single-use items in healthcare settings through the Sustainable Procurement Steering Group, which supports Boards transition to more circular supply practices.

A programme of work has been established to review the use of reusable alternatives and reduce the amount of single use Personal Protective Equipment used by Health Boards. This work looks at existing stock within NSS warehouses, current decontamination guidance and the capability of Health Board infrastructure to process reusable products. Where the use of reusable products is not possible, we aim to increase the number items that can be recycled at the end of their use.

National uniforms, bedding and textiles are all reusable and are laundered in house through NHS Scotland laundries, or in the case of uniforms and workwear, staff may launder at home.