Chamber and committees

This information is not held centrally. Provision of continuous glucose monitoring is a matter for NHS boards in consultation with individual patients taking into consideration national clinical guidelines.

The specific information requested is not available centrally.

Audiology Services is included in the Scottish Government’s target that no patient should wait more than 18 weeks from a GP referral to start of treatment since the end of 2011.

Information on the average waiting time to receive a hearing aid is not collected centrally. However we have provided information on the median wait for the fitting of a hearing in each quarter from March 2010 (first published data) to March 2016 (latest available published data) by NHS board in the following table.

Median waiting time (weeks) for the fitting of hearing aids by board

Source: Information Services Division Scotland

a - denotes no patients were seen that month.

b 0 denotes that the 50% of patients were seen in less than seven days.

Information Services Division (ISD) does not hold this information centrally. Data for IVF waiting times are available from the quarter ending July to September 2014 onwards. Information collected by ISD to measure progress towards the waiting time standard is for the first IVF cycle only. Further information on the first IVF cycle can be found at: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Waiting-Times/IVF-Waiting-Times/Publications/2016-05-31/.

The information is not held centrally.

Individual clinicians are responsible for the assessment and diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and for arranging services and support which respond appropriately to the needs of the individual.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) publish annually the statistics of drug-related deaths which were registered in Scotland over the period from 1996. The number of deaths since 1999, broken down by NHS board, can be found on the NRS website - http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/deaths/drug-related-deaths-in-scotland/2014.

Since its launch on 2 April 2013 to 31 March 2016 (the latest date for which figures are available), a total of 276 cases have been raised with the NHSScotland Confidential Alert Line. This figure includes both public (whistleblowing) and private (contractual) cases.

Due to the independent and confidential nature of the service, the Scottish Government does not hold a breakdown of the total number of cases by NHS board.

The number of calls along with evaluation reports are published on the Scottish Government website at:http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Health/NHS-Workforce/Employee-Experience/NHS-staff-alert-line

We have committed to considering how best to address the charging issue for people with dementia under 65 raised in Amanda Kopel's petition and the ‘Frank’s Law’ campaign, but remain of the view that any changes to the charges to service users for the care they receive at home must be fair to all users, irrespective of their illness or long-term condition.

For 2016-17 the Scottish Government provided additional funding of a quarter of a billion pounds for social care. This offer included £6 million to cover the changes in the charging thresholds to local authorities as a first step towards making charging fairer. We are taking an anti-poverty approach by prioritising support for those on low incomes first.

Scottish Government officials meet cervical screening coordinators from all NHS boards on a quarterly basis to share best practice in promoting cervical screening services, development of initiatives to improve uptake and how best to communicate effectively with a range of audiences.

The Scottish Government is currently working with NHS Health Scotland, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, Cancer Research UK and the territorial boards to develop an awareness raising campaign which will aim to increase awareness of cervical screening among all women. During a second phase the campaign will be targeted towards women aged over 50. NHS boards have also sited information stalls at leisure centres and other community settings to target women over 50.

Recent local initiatives to increase the screening uptake for women with learning difficulties have included delivering training to day centre staff who work with people with learning difficulties and having dedicated staff working with women with learning difficulties, facilitating cervical screening and then assisting during appointments. We also encourage all NHS boards to utilise the information materials available to them in discussing cervical screening with women who have learning difficulties. In particular, the two easy read leaflets in NHS Health Scotland's 'Keep Yourself Healthy' series which deal with cervical screening, both of which are available to support people with learning difficulties in making an informed decision.

Initiatives which have taken place recently to increase uptake among women in deprived areas include events being held at local colleges; dedicated nurses working with the local homeless and travelling women to assist them with GP registration; and full health assessments including screening tests and evening clinics being held in GP practices in the most deprived areas.

The Scottish Government commissioned NHS Health Scotland to undertake research with women into the reasons for non-uptake of the screening invitation in 2015. This research was carried out with women from both younger and older age groups and will be used to consider how we can deliver targeted communications to different age groups to improve uptake of cervical screening.