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The information requested on how many community children’s nurses are employed by NHS Scotland, broken down by NHS board can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: 05 March 2024 Workforce | Turas Data Intelligence (nhs.scot)

The Scottish Government fully understands the pressures that hospices are currently facing. The Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health engages regularly with this sector, and has visited a number of hospices and met with hospice leaders over the last few months.

Integration Joint Boards are responsible for the planning, and commissioning of adult palliative care services, including hospices, using the integrated budget under their control. We have invested over £2 billion in the 2024-25 budget for social care and integration, delivering on our Programme for Government commitment to increase social care spending by 25% over this Parliament. Despite this significant investment the financial climate remains extremely challenging and we are working with partners to understand and address the challenges, within the context of a finite budget.

The term “puberty-suppressing hormones” is non-specific, and could be applied to a range of medicines used for a variety of conditions.

In the context of the provision of gender identity healthcare to children and young people, I refer the member to question S6O-03286 on 28 March 2024. which is available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament .

The Scottish Government does not routinely hold or collate this information. This information should be requested from the relevant Health Boards.

The Scottish Government has commissioned NHS National Services Scotland to work with a wide range of clinical and other stakeholders to consider how best to meet the needs of the population in terms of young people’s gender healthcare services for NHS Scotland. This work is ongoing, and aims to define the scope of a specialist service in Scotland.

The Scottish Government anticipates that an outline service specification based on this work will be presented to NHS Strategic Planning Board for Scotland for consideration later this year.

The Sandyford Young People’s Gender Service, based in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, is the only gender identity clinic in Scotland providing care to those aged under 17 years. This service offers a range of support to young people and their families and accepts referrals from across Scotland.

The information requested is not held centrally. This is a matter for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde as the responsible Health Board.

The Scottish Government welcomes the publication, on 10 April, of the final report and recommendations of the NHS England-commissioned Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People, chaired by Dr Hiliary Cass (‘the Cass Review’).

The findings of the review, and the associated systematic review papers, are being closely considered by both the Scottish Government and Health Boards in Scotland in the context of how such healthcare is best delivered here.

On 18 April, in a joint statement, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Lothian confirmed that both Boards have paused any new prescription of puberty-supressing hormones and cross-sex hormones for young people as a treatment option for gender dysphoria.

The small number of patients directly impacted by this change, and their families, were notified in advance of this statement. It is right that they were the first to hear about it, sensitively and from the services caring for them, before a public statement was made.

The National Gender Identity Healthcare Reference Group continues to meet and make progress against all the commitments set out within the referenced December 2021 Strategic Action Framework. This includes:

• Healthcare Improvement Scotland developing standards for gender identity healthcare for NHS Scotland;
• NHS Education Scotland developing a Transgender Health Knowledge and Skills framework for NHS staff;
• Public Health Scotland working with Health Boards to deliver publication of waiting times data by them; and
• Grant funding to the University of Glasgow to administer a programme of research on gender identity healthcare.

Decisions on clinical pathways are not for the Scottish Government. These decisions are for clinicians, based on the best evidence available, through the appropriate clinical governance structures.

On 18 April, in a joint statement, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Lothian confirmed that both Boards have paused any new prescription of puberty-supressing hormones and cross-sex hormones for young people as a treatment option for gender dysphoria.

The small number of patients directly impacted by this change, and their families, were notified in advance of this statement. It is right that they were the first to hear about it, sensitively and from the services caring for them, before a public statement was made.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26406 on 19 April 2024. 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 .

Decisions on clinical pathways are not for the Scottish Government. These decisions are for clinicians, based on the best evidence available, through the appropriate clinical governance structures.

On 18 April, in a joint statement, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Lothian confirmed that both Boards have paused any new prescription of puberty-supressing hormones and cross-sex hormones for young people as a treatment option for gender dysphoria.

The small number of patients directly impacted by this change, and their families, were notified in advance of this statement. It is right that they were the first to hear about it, sensitively and from the services caring for them, before a public statement was made.