Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the question S6W-00316 answered on
‎17 June 2021 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

We have provided funding to Energy Action Scotland for a number of years to undertake a programme of work that supports Scottish Government fuel poverty policy development and delivery, as well as increasing stakeholder awareness of fuel poverty issues in Scotland . In 2020-21 this amounted to £130,000.

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we also made funding available to a number of organisations to assist households struggling with their energy costs. The Fuel Bank Foundation was provided with £877,000 in total, which it used primarily to provide same-day top ups to households with prepayment meters who were at risk of self-disconnecting. Later their services were extended to include households reliant upon unregulated fuels such as heating oil. Advice Direct Scotland delivered the Home Heating Support Fund on our behalf, making available £1,050,000 to households referred by specialist energy and debt advice services, who were at serious risk of self rationing their energy use, regardless of fuel type or meter type. A further £2,100,000 was provided to the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations to deliver the Social Housing Fuel Support Fund, which supported member RSLs to deliver schemes designed to support tenants experiencing fuel insecurity.

Further funding is planned for 2021-22, as part of the Social Renewal Advisory Board Response Fund, which will build on the projects undertaken over the last year. Details are expected to be confirmed soon.

The recruitment of members for the new Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel will be underway imminently. The Panel will comprise a Chair and five Members, at least one of whom must have lived experience of fuel poverty. Assuming there are sufficient applicants who meet the criteria and can be recommended for appointment, we expect the Panel to be in place by early November.

In line with our Programme for Government commitment, the Fuel Poverty Strategy will be published by the end of this year. We will consult with a wide range of relevant stakeholders. The timescale for this consultation will be confirmed in due course.

The option for women aged 71 and over to self-refer for a breast screening appointment will resume once capacity in all screening centres returns to pre-Covid or close to pre-Covid levels. This is based on the recommendation of the Scottish Screening Committee, the National Screening Oversight and the Breast Screening Programme Board, all three of whom are keeping the situation under regular review. They are also working closely with Health Boards to increase appointments and meet this criteria as soon as possible. We continue to emphasise that everyone should remain symptom aware and report any symptoms to their GP immediately for these to be investigated.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government or by Public Health Scotland.

Information relating to the number of suspected cancer referrals made by NHS dentists would be held by individual Health Boards.

The information requested regarding the number of NHS staff who have tested positive for COVID-19 at a hospital level is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Public Health Scotland publishes Health Care Worker Data by NHS Board, this information can be accessed here:

Dashboard - COVID-19 Statistical Report - 14 July 2021 - COVID-19 statistical report - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

Validated information on referrals to NHS dentals hospitals is not held centrally.

However the member may find it useful to know that information relating to outpatient activity including total number of attendances by NHS Board and location of treatment can be found in the Acute Hospital Activity publication using the link below.

https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/4991/table-1-outpatient-activity-consultant-led.xlsx.

Invasive cervical cancer audits have been carried out annually by Health Boards for at least the last 20 years, although a new national methodology to standardise the information collected was introduced in 2014. These audits review the screening histories of people who develop invasive cervical cancer.

As set out in my response to S6W-00871 on 5 July 2021 we’ve taken a number of steps to provide advice and support to people with chronic pain during the pandemic, including highlighting relevant information on the matter of injections to assist them in discussions with their clinician and Health Board.

In June 2020, joint guidance was issued by the Faculty of Pain Medicine (FPM) and the British Pain Society (BPS) in relation to pain interventions which stated: ‘decision[s] to resume injections should be based on a balance of risks and benefits for individual patients’ . This statement reflected the factors the FMP/BPS said should be considered when resuming pain interventions, including the local prevalence of COVID-19, reducing the risk to patients (specifically in relation to steroid injections) and prioritising lower risk aspects of pain services first. It also emphasised the importance of patient consent in relation to additional risks of attending hospital and receiving an injection during the pandemic.

Following this, the advice issued by the FPM in July 2020 again set out that there was insufficient evidence to assess the potential associated risks should a patient come into contact with COVID-19. It goes on to on to clearly state: ‘Our previous recommendations - “FPM & BPS Joint Guidance on Pain Interventions during the COVID-19 Recovery Phase” published on the 8th of June 2020 in conjunction with the British Pain Society […] still stand ’. The update also stated, when making treatment decisions, the: ‘risk benefit ratio [should] also [be] measured in the context of the local prevalence of the COVID-19 virus at that point in time.’ Our replies to correspondence about this matter therefore continued to include a link to the June 2020 guidance and in response to feedback from a member of the public in April 2021, we now direct people to the overarching FPM webpage containing both advice documents.

Neither Scottish Government officials or Ministers make or influence treatment or prescribing decisions as these are entirely for clinicians in charge of a patient’s care to make. When taking these decisions we expect clinicians to discuss risks and options fully with their patients taking into account relevant guidance, the impact of pain on people’s quality of life and any safety considerations.

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