Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government believes clinical research should be rigorous, be of high quality, and should be considered by relevant professional groups. The research in question is considered by the clinical community in NHS Scotland to be of a reasonable quality.

The manufacturer of Essure, the device that was used in the hysteroscopic sterilisation procedure, voluntarily withdrew it from the European market in 2017. Information on withdrawal can be found on the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s website here and advice given by the manufacturer to healthcare professionals and patients can be viewed here .

No Health Board in Scotland presently offers any form of hysteroscopic sterilisation.

The next phase of funding under the Waiting Times Improvement Plan was announced on 28 April. An additional investment of £70 million will be allocated to NHS Boards to target long waits during the financial year 2019-20.

An announcement will be made later this month which will provide detail around the allocation of funding and which specialities it covers.

The Scottish Health Survey provides annual estimates of smoking prevalence at national level.

The Scottish Surveys Core Questions provides annual smoking prevalence data for health boards, local authorities and smaller subgroups of the population.

The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) ended 1 April 2016. Removing the link between achievement and payment by dismantling QOF did not remove or reduce the obligation on general practitioners to treat patients in a clinically appropriate way and practices still maintain their disease registers.

As Cabinet Secretary for Health I have met with representatives of women experiencing complications from mesh. In light of the views and experiences I have heard from patients I have taken action as set out elsewhere and, in doing so, I have kept the First Minister fully informed of all developments. The First Minister has given her full support for the action that I have taken.

The Scottish Access Collaborative Programme recently published a report setting out recommendations to sustainably improve chronic pain patient pathways and outcomes that will be taken forward with NHS Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships. Based on the recommendations set out in the report, the Scottish Government are developing a quality improvement approach which will be developed in partnership with the Modern Outpatient Programme. Workshop participants will be involved to develop Driver Diagrams, aligned to the Scottish Pain model, before the end of July 2019.

Third sector colleagues are taking forward the establishment of a Chronic Pain Patient Reference Group, and a scoping meeting is being scheduled for August 2019. The Chronic Pain report will be distributed more widely across the chronic pain community and wider stakeholders over the coming weeks and it is anticipated that further connection events and learning opportunities will take place following the summer break to share good practice and to co-produce the implementation plan and progress actions.

Lipoedema can be a distressing and painful condition and the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring everyone living with it can access the best possible care and support. We welcome any opportunity to help raise awareness of lipoedema and will continue to work with organisations to raise awareness of all long term conditions across Scotland.

There are a range of treatment options available on the NHS in Scotland, including compression, exercise and weight management programmes, and in some circumstances liposuction. It is important that anyone who thinks they might have lipoedema speaks to their GP to discuss their symptoms and the treatment options available to them.

There is one surgeon in Scotland who specialises in tumescent liposuction surgery, based in NHS Tayside. We are in discussion with NHS Tayside about the numbers of referrals received for this surgery in order to consider future service needs.

Third sector groups are engaged in the development of the Respiratory Care Action Plan including Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland and the British Lung Foundation. We are also engaging with respiratory experts, such as consultant clinicians, physiotherapists, specialist respiratory nurses, anaesthetists and representatives from the Scottish Ambulance Service.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-20583 on 20 December 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 . .

The Scottish Government provides secretariat support to the Task and Finish Group. The Group is chaired by a consultant physician in respiratory and general internal medicine.

The cost for the secretariat is met within existing resources.

My officials are in regular contact with NHS Lanarkshire about the dispute which has arisen between ISS UK, who sub-contract to provide facilities management services at University Hospital, Hairmyres under PFI arrangements, and their staff.

I wrote to ISS UK on 8 April and 2 May urging the company to engage fully with the Staff Side to resolve this dispute, but have not so far received a response. I have written again to ISS UK and GMB suggesting the involvement of ACAS as an independent body to try and resolve this dispute. I also met with the unions involved, Unison and GMB, on 23 May to hear their concerns.

There have been calls for the Scottish Government to provide direct financial assistance to the staff involved but it should be noted that, as the staff affected are employees of a private company, there is no mechanism to do so. Any such intervention would require primary legislation to be put in place.

Whilst not able to directly help staff financially, the Scottish Government was able to provide assurances that support will be provided for any bid by NHS Lanarkshire to bring contracted out services back in house when the present contract ends.