Chamber and committees

In developing local approaches, individual GP practices will be consulted by their Health Boards at appropriate junctures.

The Programme is using Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) methodology which includes requirements around risk. A key role of the Vaccination Transformation Programme governance will be to identify and manage risk, undertake equality impact assessments, and establish quality metrics for monitoring the impact of the new delivery model. Local risk assessments will also be carried out as plans progress.

At the heart of any change must be the core principle of patient safety. That is why our planned approach is of a three year transition with changes to services only taking place when it is safe to do so.

Hepatitis C (HCV) prevention remains a priority for the Scottish Government as set out in our Sexual Health and Bloodborne Virus Strategy. All NHS Boards and partners continue to work to prevent new infections, promoting best practice in relation to HCV prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

Monitoring the impact of our investment in prevention and treatment strategies on the incidence of infection remains a challenge as new infection incidents are difficult to measure directly, given that the infection can be asymptomatic and undiagnosed. However, there is evidence to suggest that the prevalence of injecting drug use in Scotland has decreased in recent years, which indicates that the overall number of HCV infections in people who inject drugs is likely to have decreased. In Scotland, HCV is mainly transmitted among injecting drug users.

Despite advertising internationally there were no suitable candidates for the locum surgical post.

National Services Division has advised that the two surgeons will still provide the current service and ensure that patients are being managed within clinical protocols. NHS GG&C has confirmed that the surgeons are content with this position and are now supported by a full team of specialist nursing and administrative staff.

The current service will continue to be monitored by NHS GG&C to ensure patients are being managed appropriately and that the impact on the surgeons is being assessed accordingly. This approach is ensuring that all patients receive time appropriate surgery.

This information will not be available until after the publication of the Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics 2016-17 in February 2018.

The Scottish Government Hepatitis C Treatment and Therapies Group has established a Short Life Working Group to generate guidance on how best to identify hepatitis C infected people who are either undiagnosed, diagnosed but never in follow up, or diagnosed and lost to follow up. The Group will report back to the Scottish Government in mid 2018. it will also make recommendations on new models of care and treatment for infected people in the context of the highly effective and safe therapies for hepatitis C now available.

This table contains the data available by calendar year to 31 December 2016 regarding the number of people reported to be diagnosed hepatitis C positive in Scotland.

¹ ‘NHS Board’ refers to the person's NHS Board of residence, or where this is not known, the NHS Board of source of referral.

This table contains the data by financial year for people initiated onto hepatitis C treatment in Scotland to 2016-17.

Hepatitis C treatment data by NHS Board has only been reported routinely since 2011-12.

*2011-12 initiations are based on the NHS Board where treatment was administered, however 2014-15, 2013-14 and 2012-13 initiates are based on NHS Board of residence where known.

The Orkney/Shetland/Western Isles data are summarised as a collective total and proportion in a combined Island NHS Board field.

NA - not applicable. There are no specialist HCV services available in these NHS Board areas.

The Scottish Government’s role is to provide frameworks, policies, and resources to enable Scotland’s NHS Boards to deliver the healthcare services that meet the needs of their local populations.

We note that whilst NHS Lothian currently leads the way in the provision of pulmonary rehabilitation there is much more to be done.

This is why from next year Scotland will be participating in the United Kingdom wide National Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease & Asthma audit. This audit has been a key driver for improvement in England and Wales and collects information on outcomes for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease including pulmonary rehabilitation which will assist Health and Social Care planners in developing services that will improve the care of their populations.

The 2017 Pulmonary Rehabilitation survey, published by Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Pulmonary Rehabilitation Action Group notes that completion of pulmonary rehabilitation is a well-recognised challenge for a number of reasons, including the unpredictable nature of respiratory health.

Overall completion rates in Scotland are similar to those reported elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

Through the Respiratory National Advisory Group we would encourage the sharing of best practice from areas with higher completion rates and recommend that other solutions, such as digital are explored to help overcome some of the barriers highlighted in the survey.

The Scottish Government welcomes the 2017 Pulmonary Rehabilitation survey, published by Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Pulmonary Rehabilitation Action Group on the provision of pulmonary rehabilitation in Scotland.

The Scottish Government recognises that pulmonary rehabilitation is an important element of respiratory disease care.

Pulmonary rehabilitation has a well-established evidence base for its benefit in helping to support self-management and reduce exacerbation and hospital admissions.

Pulmonary rehabilitation is a key recommendation in national clinical guidelines, which we expect NHS Boards to follow.

We are working with the Respiratory National Advisory Group to develop the Respiratory Health: Quality Improvement Plan.