Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04721 on 8 December 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 recognise that more must be done to reduce inequalities in health outcomes for women, to improve information and support for women to manage their health, and to reduce the stigma associated with menstrual health, and conditions such as PCOS.

In August 2021 we published our Women's Health Plan . As part of the Plan’s commitment to improve information and support for women we are working to build a comprehensive women’s health platform on the NHS Inform website. That work began recently with two information campaigns, the first of which included information about periods Women's Health | NHS inform . The next phase will focus on menstrual health and wellbeing and will launch by Spring 2022.

Our aim is for all women to have access to high quality and appropriate information and support throughout all stages of life. This includes raising awareness of women’s health conditions widely, including amongst healthcare practitioners to improve access to information on menstrual health, management options and improve access to appropriate support, speedy diagnosis and the best treatment options.

The Woman’s Health Plan further commits to establish a Women’s Health Research Fund with the aim of closing gaps in scientific and medical knowledge in women’s health. The exact cause of PCOS is unknown and applications for research funding for PCOS (including research into the underlying causes, diagnosis, prevention, disease-modifying treatments, care pathways etc.) are welcomed by the Chief Scientist Office.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery, based at the NHS Golden Jubilee, plans to develop a pelvic pain pathway in 2022 that will improve how women access care and support for conditions such as PCOS in Scotland. This will place importance on equipping GPs with materials and access to specialist advice to inform early diagnosis and intervention, and onward referral to specialist support for physical and psychological symptoms.

In 2021-22, we increased our Primary Care Fund from £195 million to £250 million, which includes support for the new GP contract and for wider Primary Care reform. Our Programme for Government also announced primary care spend will be increased by 25% over the course of this Parliament. Over half of all frontline health spend will be invested in community health services that will ensure more care for people with conditions such as PCOS in a place and way that meets their needs.

Legal aid is currently available to meet the costs of mediation where appropriate. Again, interaction between mediation and legal aid is a matter that will be considered a part of development of a Bill and I refer to my response to
‎ S6W-04609 on 8 December 2021. In the meantime, the Scottish Government is actively working with stakeholders to expand the availability of mediation and arbitration services within the civil justice system to give our citizens, businesses and organisations access to flexible, affordable and less stressful means of settling disputes, benefitting them and saving time in courts.

The Scottish Government is making available £2.332 million to the Scottish Legal Aid Board in 2021-22 to support projects offering in court expert advice and representation to help people tackle and resolve a wide range of problems including debt, housing, homelessness and small claims court actions.

The Scottish Government is also making available £100k to Scottish Mediation and £115k to the Scottish Arbitration Centre in 2021-22 to promote and expand the provision of Mediation and Arbitration services in Scotland.

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

Antibody tests measure the number of antibodies in the blood when the test is taken, however immunity is more complex than antibodies alone and we still do not know what level of antibodies offer protection from COVID-19 infection or reinfection. Research is underway to understand more about COVID-19 antibodies and reinfection and therefore antibody tests are currently only available as part of research and surveillance studies and in some specific circumstances for the clinical management of patients. There are currently no plans to introduce on-demand antibody testing in Scotland.

Current self-isolation policy does not permit a positive antibody test as an exemption to self-isolation, and there are no plans to introduce this at the present time. Adults aged over 18 years and 4 months can end self-isolation as a close contact if they remain without symptoms, are fully vaccinated and receive a negative PCR test result. If they are unable to get vaccinated for medical reasons, or are involved in a clinical trial which means they cannot take a vaccine as part of the trial, they are also allowed to leave self-isolation if they remain without symptoms and receive a negative PCR test result. If they test positive they will need to self-isolate for 10 days. If someone is identified as a close contact related to the Omicron variant, Test and Protect will phone them to give them specific advice.

The current advice for people at highest risk (who may formerly have been asked to shield) is for them to follow the same advice as the rest of the population.

Substance misuse services (often catering for drugs and alcohol misuse) are accessible either by open access or through GP referral to these services for review and support. These vary across Health boards with regards to support and resource available and mode of initial access.

The Scottish Government was pleased to work with Stop Climate Chaos Scotland and partners to deliver the Glasgow Climate Dialogues, and its communique which set out recommendations for COP26 from four thematic dialogues.

The Scottish Government has already advanced communique recommendations for our climate justice work, including our announcements on funding to address loss and damage, and – following the evaluation of the Climate Justice Fund - by committing to ensure communities themselves are central in future project design. The final Glasgow Climate Dialogues meeting, to take place in January, will discuss post-COP26 actions.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04721 on 8 December 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04313 on 3 December 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.

Further to this answer, I can update that the public consultation on the draft Framework for Pain Management Service Delivery is now available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/draft-framework-chronic-pain-service-delivery .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04721 on 8 December 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 .

A full and accurate report of numbers of people registered as sight impaired and severely sight impaired cannot be produced at this time, but the latest data received shows a snapshot of people registered across 16 local partnerships. In 2020 (1 January to 31 December), 405 people were registered as sight impaired and 382 people were registered as severely sight impaired. In 2021 (1 January to 25 November), 449 people were registered as sight impaired and 456 people were registered as severely sight impaired.

This information is kept by each local authority, but a number of issues have been experienced, including GDPR problems and under-utilisation of the web platform designed to capture this information.

The Scottish Government remains committed to working with Public Health Scotland (PHS) to provide accurate diagnostic and registration data, in order to enable better access to services, support and care for people with sight loss. The GDPR issues relating to the Certificate of Vision Impairment (CVI) (Scotland) form has been resolved, and we are currently working with PHS on the development of a data collection solution that will replace the current web platform.