Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to working with all NHS boards to increase the early detection of cancer.

Screening remains one of the most effective ways to find cancer early. It’s therefore positive to see that NHS Highland’s uptake rate for breast and bowel screening are above the national average and that the Board is continuing to build on this with local targeted initiatives to further increase uptake with support from the Scottish Government’s new £1 million Health Inequalities Fund.

Nationally, the Scottish Government will be launching a new Detect Cancer Early public awareness campaign later in 2018 to reduce fear around cancer and empower people to act early. A refresh of the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer is also currently under peer review with revised Guidelines expected to be published later this year, to support GPs in finding cancer early.

Since 2008, the Scottish Cabinet has met 16 times in the Highlands and Islands (as defined by the Highlands and Islands Enterprise). Cabinet will next meet in the Highlands and Islands area on 27 August 2018, on the Isle of Arran.

The specific information requested is unavailable. Information held nationally on delayed discharges does not identify people who had been transferred from another hospital prior to becoming delayed. Further, since 2016, inter-hospital transfers are not classified as delayed discharges for national reporting purposes.

Information on patients delayed in hospitals out with their area of residence (Out of Area delays) is available nationally. There were 92 residents of Highland and Argyll and Bute delayed in hospitals outside of NHS Highland between July 2017 and June 2018, with 67 delayed between July 2016 and June 2017.

Information is not available centrally on ‘patient bed places’. The following table shows the average number of available staffed beds for all specialties during quarter ending March 2018 within NHS Highland.

Table 1: Average number of available staffed beds for all specialties by acute hospital and NHS Highland, quarter ending March 2018.

The number of patients resident in the NHS Highland area admitted to a NHS Highland hospital and subsequently transferred during their hospital stay to hospitals in other NHS board areas is shown in the following table.

Table 1: Number of patients resident in the NHS Highland area admitted to a NHS Highland hospital and subsequently transferred during their hospital stay to hospitals in other NHS board areas.

The following table shows the numbers requested from hospitals in NHS Highland for all delay reasons over the period July 2016 to June 2018. Due to revised data definitions and national reporting requirements information on delayed bed days prior to July 2016 is not available.

The non-fuel subsidy payment made to Argyll Ferries Limited for the Gourock to Dunoon ferry service public service obligation in contract year 6 (July 2016 to June 2017) was £3,530,421.

That total figure included a sum of £958,000 for the charter of the MV Coruisk, however the net cost to Transport Scotland was £159,000. This is because the majority of the costs are for the commercial charter of the MV Coruisk, fully crewed, from CalMac Ferries Ltd. This represents additional income for CalMac, which reduces the overall grant payment made by Transport Scotland to CalMac under the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services contract.

Financial information in relation to the replacement bus service, again included within the total figure, is commercially sensitive and therefore cannot be released.

The answer provided to question S4W-02179 used a definition which related to an indicator on antisocial behaviour from the Scottish Policing Performance Framework. This definition was changed in subsequent years and the framework itself is no longer in use.

For further information, the following table shows the number of crimes and offences recorded by the police since 2011-12 for those areas previously grouped under the environmental damage heading. This includes: Fire-raising (excluding Muirburn), Vandalism, Reckless Damage, Malicious Damage, Litter Offences, Offences under the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978, Control of pollution and Town and country planning acts.

Fire-raising (excluding Muirburn), Vandalism, Reckless Damage, Malicious Damage, Litter Offences, Offences under the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978, Control of pollution and Town and country planning acts recorded by the police, 2011-12 to 2016-17:

The Lyme Borreliosis Group, part of the Scottish Health Protection Network is engaging with a number of stakeholders including community pharmacies, health professionals and schools to promote safe tick removal and widen the availability of recommended tick removal devices.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling inequality, promoting equality and ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to achieve their full potential – irrespective of their faith or any other characteristic. The member raises an important issue, and can be assured that we continue to look carefully at the inequalities particular faith communities may experience and take action to tackle these.