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The Scottish Government is committed to increasing the availability of medicines that patients in Scotland need.

A national headache pathway was launched in October 2023 by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery at NHS Golden Jubilee. This is to aid clinicians in the diagnosis and management of headache disorders, including migraine, and offers guidance on management of conditions.

Through the Neurological Care & Support Framework, the Scottish Government awarded £221,176 in total to the Migraine Trust across 2022-24, to work with community, primary and secondary care pharmacists In NHS Grampian to help people with migraine manage their symptoms and treatments more effectively.

Through the success of this project, a further seven NHS Boards are working towards adopting this model of care in future.

In Scotland, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) appraises the clinical and cost-effectiveness of newly licensed medicines, following receipt of a submission from the manufacturer. Where the SMC accepts a medicine, or accepts it with restrictions or on an interim basis, there is an expectation that NHS Boards will consider the medicine and make it (or its equivalent) available. This is considered by each NHS Boards’ Area Drug and Therapeutics Committee.

NHS Boards are expected to reach a decision within 90 days of being informed of the SMC advice, which provides time to consider any issues associated with the implementation of the medicine, such as changes to the care pathway and staff training. Boards should publish their decision on their website within 14 days of the decision.

The SMC appraisal is undertaken independently of Scottish Ministers and is based on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of the medicine at a population level.

a) A national headache pathway was launched in October 2023 by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery at NHS Golden Jubilee. This pathway aids clinicians, including GPs, in the diagnosis and management of headache disorders, including migraine. The pathway specifically includes guidance for the treatment of migraine in primary care.

b) Through the Neurological Care & Support Framework, the Scottish Government provided £221,176 in total to the Migraine Trust across 2022-24, to work with community, primary and secondary care pharmacists to help people with migraine manage their symptoms and treatments more effectively. The work has been undertaken in NHS Grampian, and is being expanded into further NHS Boards who are working towards adopting this model of care.

Through this work an eLearning programme and resource page has been developed on NHS Education for Scotland’s platform TURAS. This comprises a suite of training materials available for all pharmacists and pharmacy teams to access.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Our records indicate that since 2021:

a) The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care has not met with the Migraine Trust.

b) The former Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health & Sport, Maree Todd MSP, met with the Migraine Trust once.

The current Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health, Jenni Minto MSP, has met with the Migraine Trust three times.

c) The Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport has not met with the Migraine Trust.

Discussions between the former and current Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health & Sport and the Migraine Trust have focussed on the charity’s activities and publications and more generally the improvement of care in Scotland for those with migraine.

The most recent Ministerial engagement with the Migraine Trust was 20 August 2024, when the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health visited NHS Grampian to learn more about the collaborative project undertaken between the charity and the health board.

The Pain Management Task Force oversees the implementation of the Framework for Pain Management Service Delivery in Scotland. Discussions at the Task Force are centred around delivery of the actions in the Implementation Plan rather than condition specific issues. While there have been no specific discussions on migraine-related issues at the Task Force, many of the actions in the Plan discussed at each Task Force meeting will benefit people with migraine, such as updated quality prescribing guidelines and the creation of a chronic pain Knowledge Hub, a resource available to all NHS Scotland staff and third sector organisations to deepen their understanding of chronic pain.

The Scottish Government continues to support the Centre for Sustainable Delivery in updating their national headache pathway for Scotland, which was launched last year, which will help to improve care for migraines and headache.

The Scottish Government received no requests for funding to support Migraine Awareness Week 2024. No funding was provided.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on numbers of patients travelling and the means of travel. However we are aware of an increase in travel on the sound of Harris Ferry following changes to the Benbecula Stornoway air service in April 2024.

As you may be aware, at the meeting to consider Access to Health Services in the Western Isles on 21 August, it was agreed to establish a working group, led by HITRANS, to consider ways to improve the patient experience.

At the first meeting of this group, NHS Western Isles and CalMac confirmed that they are working together to minimise issues for patients using ferry travel through a block booking of 2 cars per day for NHS Wester Isles patients. It was noted that monitoring of capacity and demand is ongoing by NHS Western Isles and CalMac will consider an increase in pre booked spaces if required.

The Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics 2023 was originally scheduled for publication in September 2024. This publication was delayed until November 2024 as a result of an unscheduled revision of previous years data for the United Kingdom by the Marine Management Organisation. Our publication includes fishing data from the Marine Management Organisation for the rest of the UK. We therefore needed to delay our publication. We are hoping to publish the Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics 2023 in late November or early December 2024. The exact date will be confirmed by the end of October 2024.

More detail on the data revision by the Marine Management Organisation, which was published on 8 October 2024, is available at: UK Sea Fisheries Statistics: Unscheduled Corrections - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) was integrated into the Health and Wellbeing Census in 2021-22. A link to the Health and Wellbeing Census is provided here:

Health and Wellbeing Census Scotland 2021- 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government has no plans to recommission the Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS), as it was integrated into the Health and Wellbeing Census in 2021-22.