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The Scottish Government is considering the options in relation to collecting data on secondary breast cancer in Scotland, taking consideration of clinical time required and how it can be used to improve services.

The National Cancer Quality Steering group have overseen the development of a newly proposed Quality Performance Indicator on ‘Recurrence Following Breast Cancer Treatment’ in 2022.

Further to this, the Scottish Government continues its dialogue with Public Health Scotland, NHS England and the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership alongside breast cancer specialists and the charity Breast Cancer Now regarding data collection for secondary breast cancer.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

sport scotland will write directly to Tess White MSP to provide the information requested.

Ministerial engagements (including official visits), overseas travel, car journeys, domestic travel and gifts received are published on the Scottish Government website at: www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/ in line with the terms of the Scottish Ministerial Code.

The Scottish Government work closely with NHS Grampian and NHS Scotland Assure on all capital investment projects. The priority is ensuring that a safe, high quality healthcare facility is delivered and the Key Stage Assurance Review (KSAR) process has been recently introduced to ensure that happens. NHS Grampian are preparing an action plan to address the issues identified in the KSAR and we will review timelines once that exercise has been completed.

Professor Anna Glasier OBE was appointed as the first Women’s Health Champion for Scotland on 26 January 2023.

Professor Glasier has been contracted to work four days a month, with her tenure coming to an end in June 2024.

Professor Glasier recently published her first Women’s Health Champion update blog which can be found here: Health and Social Care My first update as Women's Health Champion - Health and Social Care (blogs.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government provides an annual allocation to Health Boards to meet the costs of providing general medical services either through contracting with GP practices or directly by Health Boards. NHS Grampian will continue to receive an appropriate level of funding based on the practice’s registered patients.

Aberdeenshire Health & Social Care Partnership and NHS Grampian are keeping my officials abreast of developments.

The Women’s Health Plan includes a medium-term action to “ensure women are properly supported around the time of menopause to assess their future risk of osteoporosis and fractures and given appropriate lifestyle advice” and action is being taken to progress this work.

On 5 th April, Professor Anna Glasier, the Women’s Health Champion, met with the Royal Osteoporosis Society to discuss the higher risk of osteoporosis for women and the impact that this has on their health outcomes in later life.

In addition, accessible information has been made available to women via the menopause resource on the NHS Inform Women’s Health Platform. The resource highlights that women who have been through menopause are at an increased risk of developing osteoporosis as a result of the lower level of oestrogen in the body and provides advice on what women can do to reduce their chances of developing osteoporosis. Information is included on lifestyle changes like exercise and nutrition to improve bone health as well as advice on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT).

The Scottish Government has also commissioned NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to create a bespoke training package and framework focussed on menopause and menstrual health for GPs and others working in Primary Care. This package will take a life course approach, including ensuring healthcare professionals are able to support women in being aware of the risk of osteoporosis around the time of menopause – and what can help.

The Scottish Government remains fully committed to achieving the elimination of Hepatitis C in Scotland by the end of the 2024/25 financial year.

Scotland already has a renowned approach for tackling Hepatitis C, with NHS Tayside eliminating it within the health board area, 11 years ahead of the World Health Organisation (WHO) target.

The last Public Health Scotland report (2022) demonstrated the major progress that has been made so far; for example, the prevalence of a chronic Hepatitis C infection amongst people who inject drugs has almost halved between 2015 and 2020 and there has been as much as a 70% reduction in some parts of Scotland. In addition 80% of individuals with a chronic hepatitis C infection have also been initiated onto treatment, exceeding the World Health Organisations treatment target.

However, we know that to achieve elimination and meet our target will take a concerted effort on a national scale. We will continue to proactively collaborate with the Hepatitis C Elimination Implementation Strategy Group to ascertain where our support is most required as we work towards our goal of elimination.

The Scottish Government is aware of delays in issuing cervical screening results. Currently 75% of individuals are receiving their screening results within the recommended 14 days from the date that the sample was taken; however, we recognise that some individuals are experiencing delays of up to eight weeks as a result of ongoing staffing pressures faced by both cervical screening laboratories.

The Scottish cervical screening programme is working on a number of measures to address this. This includes a review of internal processes to ensure all staff who can report cervical cytology spend the maximum time possible at the microscope. In addition, digital technologies are being explored to increase overall reporting capacity.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on individual health board backlogs.

We are committed to delivering on the priority in the Women's Health Plan (WHP) to improve access for women to appropriate support, speedy diagnosis and best treatment for endometriosis.

There has been substantial progress since the publication of the Women’s Health Plan and our first report on progress, published on 26 January 2023, sets this out in more detail.

We will support the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme to raise awareness of the Endometriosis Pathway for Scotland. The pathway was approved in January 2023 and will be distributed to all NHS Boards for implementation. It provides a streamlined, integrated pathway across primary, secondary and tertiary care that aims to provide a holistic approach and timely care for those with endometriosis and endometriosis-like symptoms.

We will also continue to work with our Endometriosis Advisory Group and Lived Experience Forum to support and inform our policy actions to deliver on the priorities within the plan.