Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government's Infrastructure Investment Plan, which was published in February 2021, sets out the government’s infrastructure priorities for the period from 2021 to 2026. The Infrastructure Investment Plan is available online at A National Mission with Local Impact: Infrastructure Investment Plan for Scotland 2021-22 to 2025-26 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Under the Infrastructure Investment Plan the Scottish Government is:

• Doubling the annual funding for maintenance over 5 years, investing over £1 billion in enhancing or refurbishing existing facilities, and modernising key equipment.
• Investing over £220 million in the Baird and Anchor project in Aberdeen which brings together all Maternity, Neonatal, Reproductive Medicine, Breast and Gynaecology services in the Baird Family Hospital and consolidates Haematology, Oncology and Radiotherapy Day and Outpatient services in the ANCHOR Cancer centre.
• Delivering a programme of investment in National Treatment Centres in Clydebank, Inverness, Livingston, Aberdeen, Tayside, and Kirkcaldy.
• Upgrading the Edinburgh Cancer Centre, building the new national secure adolescent inpatient service in Irvine and replacing the St Brendan’s facility in Barra.
• Investing in the provision of a new health and social care community hub in Parkhead that will replace 10 different buildings across Glasgow northeast area.
• Investing over £50 million to modernise our radiology equipment nationally, and over £100 million to upgrade and replace our ambulance fleet.
• Investing £25 million in the system development required to build on the 50-fold increase in patient use of NearMe digital healthcare services.

The health and welfare of all displaced people from Ukrainian staying in Scotland remains our priority.

The Scottish Government Mental Health directorate worked closely with our partners such as Heads of Psychology Scotland, NHS Scotland, COSLA, the Scottish Refugee Council, amongst others, to develop and then publish wellbeing packs for displaced people from Ukraine arriving in Scotland. There was a specific pack full of helpful resources and guidance for displaced people from Ukraine on physiological wellbeing – Ukraine psychological wellbeing advice pack: guidance for Ukrainian arrivals - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

We've amended legislation so there will be no charge for NHS Scotland services for people who have fled Ukraine, services such as maternity care, mental health services and treatment for specific conditions.

Anyone in Scotland, regardless of their nationality, residence status or length of time they will be in the country, is already entitled to receive emergency treatment at an A&E or casualty department, and can register with a GP Practice to receive general medical services, at no charge.

The Scottish Government does not collect data on the uptake of free school meals broken down by year group.

The Schools Healthy Living Survey Supplementary Statistics provides a breakdown of school meal uptake by pupils in primary, secondary and special schools dating back to 2006. Previous School Healthy Living Survey Supplementary Statistics datasets, back to 2012, are available through the following web link: School Healthy Living Survey supplementary statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The uptake of free school meals as a percentage of the total number of pupils since 2006 is contained within the following table:

Free School Meals uptake by school sector 2006-2022

The Scottish Government remains committed to reaching its target of eliminating Hepatitis C (HCV) in Scotland by 2024, whilst recognising the impact that the covid-19 pandemic has had across all our health services.

In 2019, the Scottish Health Protection Network established the Hepatitis C Elimination Implementation Group to oversee and monitor the implementation of the Scottish Government’s Hepatitis C Elimination Strategy. Including hard to reach populations in efforts to eliminate Hepatitis C is fundamental to the Elimination Strategy, and this issue is therefore regularly considered by the Group, which meets four times per year. Along with representatives from Scottish Government, the Group is made up of clinicians, representatives from NHS health boards, and primary care and prevention leads.

In addition, in 2021 the Scottish Government provided funding to NHS Tayside to deliver the Cocoon project, which provided point of care BBV testing and treatment to people who inject drugs, whilst integrating wound care, naloxone provision and other harm reducing measures.

The Scottish Government remains committed to achieving elimination of Hepatitis C across the whole of Scotland by 2024.

This includes the prison population. However, we know that the health needs of those in prison can be complex and may need more targeted intervention.

Opt-out testing for blood borne viruses, including hepatitis C, is recommended in prisons and PHS published “Guidance to Support Opt-Out Blood Borne Virus (BBV) Testing in Scottish Prisons” in 2019. This guidance recommends that BBV testing should be offered to everyone within 7 days of entering custody. The guidance is due to be reviewed later this year and that review, in combination with the work underway to re-invigorate progress towards the wider elimination target, will ensure there remains a focus on eliminating hepatitis C in Scottish prisons.

Public Health Scotland produced the “Surveillance of Hepatitis C in Scotland” report earlier this month and the report indicated that major progress in Scotland has been made. By 2021, 80% of individuals diagnosed with chronic HCV infection in Scotland had been initiated on HCV treatment, meaning that Scotland had met the World Health Organisation Target on treatment.

While this is encouraging, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted progress towards the elimination target, and particularly challenged our ability to gather data needed to guide interventions. Additional prevalence data is expected before the end of this year. This will support decision-making on the extent and location of required interventions and resources.

The Scottish Government remains committed to achieving the 2024 target of eliminating Hepatitis C in Scotland, whilst recognising the impact that the covid-19 pandemic has had on all our health services.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) recently published a report entitled ‘Surveillance of Hepatitis C in Scotland’ and the findings from that report indicate that major progress has been made regarding a number of Hepatitis C (HCV) elimination targets in Scotland, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. By 2021, 80% of individuals diagnosed with chronic HCV infection in Scotland had been initiated on HCV treatment, meaning that Scotland had met the World Health Organisation Target on treatment.

PHS are also currently undertaking a piece of work to determine incidence levels across Scotland and we expect to receive that data by the end of the year. This will support decision-making on the extent and location of required interventions and resources.

The Scottish Government remains committed to achieving elimination of Hepatitis C (HCV) in Scotland by 2024. We are pleased that excellent progress has been made to date, despite the additional challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. An update on the progress of this work has recently been published by Public Health Scotland, and the report can be found here: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/15549/surveillance-of-hepatitis-c-in-scotland-oct22.pdf

Clinicians and carers across Scotland are encouraged to identify those with risk factors for HCV and test them. To support this activity, the Hepatitis C Clinical Leads Group of the Scottish Health Protection Network (SHPN) published Recommendations on Hepatitis C Virus Case-finding and Access to Care in 2019, and this can be found at: https://hps.scot.nhs.uk/web-resources-container/recommendations-on-hepatitis-c-virus-case-finding-and-access-to-care/

In 2019, NHS Tayside were world-leading in eliminating HCV within their Health Board area, a key part of their strategy involved innovative testing models using community pharmacy. Officials are exploring what a national roll out of that approach requires.

Those aged between 18 – 25 years old continue to have access to the Patient Travel Expenses Scheme or the Highlands and Islands Travel Scheme, both of which provide eligible claimants with support to meet travel costs associated with outpatient appointments.

Further to this, the introduction of the Improving the Cancer Journey scheme provides all adults diagnosed with cancer with the opportunity to be referred to a link officer under the joint partnership. The link officer will complete a Holistic Needs Assessment and will generate a care plan to meet the needs identified. This programme is the first of its kind in the UK. It looks to ensure that every cancer patient who can access emotional, financial and practical support. Local community assets can at this stage be identified and utilised to support the service user in meeting their needs.