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As previously stated, the Scottish Government is planning on allocating additional funds to support these plans and the current estimate is that NHS Lothian will require an additional £15 million to deliver this project. This estimate is based on advice received direct from NHS Lothian, following an extensive process to prioritise service requirements against available capital funding. The Scottish Government will continue to engage direct with NHS Lothian and additional funding assumptions will be updated as their plans develop.

The insolvency of the Dunne Group reinforced the importance of professional contract and supplier management during the delivery of key contracts and, as part of that, the need to monitor for any changes in the financial health of suppliers. It was this approach that helped identify Carillion as a risk at the first profit warning in July 2017. As a result of that warning, and contract management discussions with Carillion, the Scottish Government worked with a number of public bodies who may have been potentially impacted, to offer assistance and discuss contingencies during the late summer and autumn of 2017. These same procedures will help to secure and protect public services if another key supplier becomes insolvent. In addition, The Scottish Government works with colleagues across the rest of the UK to monitor the financial health of key suppliers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-13717 on 1 February 2018. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

In the week ending 10 December 2017 NHS Lothian experienced a range of challenges that impacted on A&E performance across the Board, including the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh. For instance the level of attendances increased across the Board, in fact during the week ending 10 December the level of attendances were amongst the highest seen since weekly reporting began almost three years ago. In the week ending 17 December the board saw its highest level in any one week.

The Scottish Government is working closely with the local teams across NHS Lothian, including partnerships, to support improvements in relation to A&E waiting time performance and the reduction of delayed discharges. We are working with the hospital to enhance existing processes at the front door to support the timely flow of patients through the A&E department and additional capacity has been opened in community hospitals to support discharges. We will continue to work with the Board to support the required improvements.

This information is not held centrally by Scottish Government.

In 2016-17, 42 % of people treated for hepatitis C (HCV) had no liver disease or mild liver disease and so were outwith the priority group of those with moderate to severe liver disease. For the first 6 months of 2017-18 the latest data indicates that 54% of people treated for hepatitis C had no liver disease or mild liver disease.

The principles developed by the HCV Treatment and Therapies Sub-Group of the National Sexual Health and Bloodborne Virus Advisory Committee state that patients should have an expectation that the likelihood of cure as a result of their initial treatment is at least 90% and this should be achieved with minimal possible side effects. All infected people are eligible for treatment regardless of disease progression, but the recommended treatment may vary dependent on HCV genotype and individual circumstances.

In line with the NHSScotland National Uniform Policy hospital/facility laundries should be used to launder uniforms where they are available. Information is not held centrally in relation to the number of uniforms routinely laundered by staff at home.

Where hospital laundry facilities are not available, used uniforms should be laundered at home in accordance with the Home Laundering Guidelines, issued alongside the National Uniform Policy. There is no evidence to suggest that home laundering is a less effective method of laundering used uniform.

The new annual national targets for hepatitis C (HCV) treatment initiations are at least 2000 for 2018-19, 2500 for 2019-20, 3000 for 2020-21 and 3000 for each subsequent year. These are all minimum targets.

The Scottish Government is committed to the elimination of hepatitis C as a public health concern. The updated recommendations of the HCV Treatment and Therapies Sub-Group of the National Sexual Health and Bloodborne Virus Advisory Committee will form the basis of an elimination plan, which will be published later this year.

A short life working group on hepatitis C case finding will report this summer in 2018. The group are considering best practice and innovative approaches to finding undiagnosed patients. It is anticipated that recommendations to improve case finding in a variety of settings will be made by the group.

I will refer the member back to my response on 8 January. But for absolute clarity, I instructed NHS Lothian to carry out a full investigation across the three acute hospitals, despite the allegation being made against St Johns hospital. The news release, which I cleared, was in response to the news release issued on 17 November by NHS Lothian in relation to reporting practices surrounding waiting times targets at St Johns hospital.