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The Scottish Government is continuing to support Health Boards to develop and implement their plans to transfer routine vaccination delivery from GPs under the Vaccination Transformation Programme. Health Boards are making progress at varying stages, with some Boards having already completed the transfer of vaccination services. The Scottish Government and Health Boards have agreed that the programme will be completely rolled out by the deadline of April 2022.

The definition of race underpinning the Education Scotland resource Promoting and Developing Race Equality and Anti-Racist Education: An Overview is the definition present in the Equality Act 2010. This definition encompasses white ethnic groups, including white Irish. The experience of Irish people is also referenced in the Changing the Race Equality Paradigm in Education Scotland’s Understanding race and racism wakelet for practitioners. An Education Scotland website to support the publication of their resource, to go live by the end of September, will be regularly updated to include resources for practitioners relating to different minority ethnic groups who experience discrimination.

To relieve some pressure on acute services, NHS Highland took the decision to pause their orthopaedic elective programme through August, and the board are continuing to treat patients on the basis of their clinical urgency and in line with the Clinical Prioritisation Framework.

Last year the Cabinet Secretary for Health and sport published a national Clinical Prioritisation Framework for Supporting Elective Care across NHS Scotland. This Framework sets out the key principles that NHS Boards should follow when considering decisions around prioritising cases on their elective care waiting lists during the COVID-19 pandemic. The expectation is that NHS Boards will follow these principles to categorise patients based on their particular clinical needs, ensuring patients with the greatest need are treated quickest.

We are working proactively with health boards to manage pressures and take rapid action to support increased capacity, including expedited recruitment, flexible deployment of existing staffing and supporting mutual aid across the system.

Moving forward, our NHS Recovery Plan sets out commitments over the next 5 years, backed by over £1 billion of funding, to support an increase in inpatient, daycase, and outpatient activity to address backlogs, which will be supported by the implementation of sustainable improvements and new models of care.

To date, the Scottish Government has provided more than £2 billion to NHS Boards and Integration Authorities, with NHS Western Isles receiving £7.7 million, to address pressures arising from Covid-19.

We will continue to assess the impact of Covid-19, and its financial implications for our health service, in order to ensure that frontline services receive the support that they need throughout the pandemic.

There has been no discussion on the devolution of health and safety legislation to the Scottish Government since the subject was addressed by the Smith Commission which suggested the parties involved : “…review the functions and operations of the Health and Safety Executive in Scotland and consider how the future requirements to best serve the people of Scotland could be delivered operationally whilst remaining within a reserved health and safety legislative framework”

This joint-review by the UK Government, Scottish Government, and Local Authorities was published in August 2015 by the Department for Work and Pensions.

The Scottish Government continues to represent and advocate for Scottish interests in this area, and uses its devolved healthcare powers to provide support to individuals and to inform organisations of their responsibilities towards their employees through its existing Health and Work Strategy .

There is ongoing liaison work with the Health and Safety Executive, Department for Work and Pensions, and relevant groups within Scotland such as the Scottish Trades Union Congress in order for the Scottish Government to positively impact the delivery of reserved legislation and best represent the needs of its people.

The following table shows the number of people who attended an abdominal aortic aneurysm screening appointment between January 2019 and July 2021. The programme was paused between 30 March 2020 and 6 July 2020 and when screening resumed it prioritised higher-risk screening participants.

It is important to note that the data below is management information and has not been subject to the necessary quality checks carried out for an official publication.

The following table shows the number of samples collected within the cervical screening programme from 1 January 2019 to 26 August 2021. As part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the cervical screening programme was paused between 30 March 2020 and 29 June 2020. The table below shows that a small number of samples were collected during this time; this is because colposcopy and gynaecology continued taking samples for clinical management, and some GP practices continued screening for those on non-routine recall.

Screening resumed on 29 June 2020 in a phased, careful and prioritised way, as part of the remobilisation of the NHS in Scotland. Anyone who was invited for cervical screening before the pause in March and had yet to make an appointment or had it cancelled was able to make an appointment from 29 June 2020. Non-routine cervical screening appointments resumed in mid-July and routine screening appointments from September 2020.

It is important to note that the data below is management information and has not been subject to the necessary quality checks carried out for an official publication.

Waiting time statistics for patients requiring treatment related to MS is not held centrally by the Scottish Government or Public Health Scotland (PHS). Patients’ specific condition or diagnosis is not collected by the PHS Waiting Times Team.

In regards to improving early diagnosis and understanding symptoms, the Scottish Government has provided a total of £650,000 funding to the Future MS project led by the University of Edinburgh. Future MS involves the collection of clinical data and biological samples from recently diagnosed, treatment naïve, relapsing-onset multiple sclerosis patients in order to develop a more personalised approach to clinical management. The project has recruited more than 400 MS patients from across all the territorial NHS Boards in Scotland.

We will invest £4.5 million over 5 years to implement the 17 commitments of the Neurological Care and Support in Scotland: A Framework for Action 2020 – 2025 . The aims include improving the provision of co-ordinated health and social care and support, developing sustainable workforce models and ensuring high standards of person-centred care for those with neurological conditions, such as MS. Over £300,000 has been committed so far to projects which improve the health and wellbeing of people with MS in Scotland, via the Framework.

The Scottish Government maintains positive relationships with third sector partners such as the MS Society, the MS Trust and Revive MS Support, supporting them to complement services provided by NHS Boards and improve understanding of the early symptoms of MS.

The Scottish Government expects everyone to be treated with consideration, dignity and respect when accessing and using NHS services. NHS staff will make every effort to ensure that the privacy and dignity of all patients are maintained in Scottish hospitals.

All patients should routinely be cared for in wards or bays which are for single sex occupancy. The Scottish Government provided guidelines and recommendations on the elimination of mixed sex accommodation in 1999 and 2000. Further guidance and direction regarding the provision of clinically appropriate single room accommodation in all planned new buildings and major refurbishments was provided in 2008 and 2010.

The Scottish Government does not hold national data for infectious diseases screening, antenatal haemoglobinopathies screening, or foetal anomaly ultrasound examinations within the pregnancy screening programme. These can be requested directly from individual NHS boards.

The following table shows the number of trisomy screens taken between January 2019 and June 2021.

It is important to note that the data provided below is management information and has not been subject to the necessary quality checks carried out for an official publication.