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The Chief Executive of each board is ultimately responsible for all aspects of the performance of the board.

If NHS boards do not meet their hepatitis C treatment targets, there is a risk that Scotland as a whole will not reach the 2024 elimination target. Scottish Government officials are monitoring progress towards treatment targets in order to identify and address boards that may be at risk of failing to meet their targets.

Health Protection Scotland has advised that by treating a minimum of 2,500 people during 2019-20 and 3,000 people each year thereafter, we can eliminate hepatitis C in Scotland by 2024. Case finding and treatment will be guided by the recommendations of the Hepatitis C Case Finding and Access to Care report. The largest cost in delivering hepatitis C elimination is the price of medicines, which is subject to commercial confidentiality.

It is up to each NHS board to determine how to fund case finding. The rationale for eliminating hepatitis C is clear both in terms of the benefit to patients and the saving of future costs associated with the consequences of advanced hepatitis C.

In April 2019, Scottish Government wrote to NHS Boards asking them to work with Information Services Division (ISD) to deliver an individual patient-level core dataset – the Child Adolescent and Psychological Therapy National Dataset (CAPTND).

Scottish Government recognises that some of the current systems used by Boards to record Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and Psychological Therapies activity require significant improvement. While these improvements take place, NHS Boards have been asked to deliver a subset of 15 of the core variables as a minimum. Type of diagnosis will be recorded in the final core dataset, although not in the minimum dataset.

The first data transfer (for the minimum dataset) from NHS Boards to ISD is expected at the end of September. Once each Board and ISD are content with the quality of individual level data, the aggregate collection will be discontinued for that Board. The dataset will then form the basis of the official statistics on mental health waiting times, produced by ISD. NHS Boards are currently working with ISD to agree a timeframe for moving from the minimum to core dataset.

We are working with chronic pain services across the whole patient pathway to ensure that people can receive appropriate and timely treatment and care. This will cover all services across primary and secondary care, including specialist chronic pain clinics, with a view to developing sustainable services.

Under the Waiting Times Improvement Plan we have made over £102 million available to Health Boards in 2019-20. These resources will help to reduce waiting times across Scotland in line with the activity agreed in Health Boards Annual Operational Plans, which will be published on Health Boards websites shortly.

I agree with the member’s aspiration that there should be an equitable and consistent provision of services for people with eating disorders across Scotland.

As referenced in the answer to question S5W-24291, we have committed to Scotland-specific clinical guidelines, produced by SIGN. Additionally, we understand that the Mental Welfare Commission intend to publish a needs assessment report in 2020, outlining the current availability of Eating Disorders services. These two pieces of work will inform the level of support and resources that will be required by NHS Boards.

The Scottish Government is clear in our engagement with NHS Boards that patients should be assessed according to their clinical need. Our expectation is that those who need immediate treatment, whether for an eating disorder or for any condition or disorder requiring access to mental health services, will receive that care quickly – whether that takes place in specialist settings, or via the work of community mental health teams.

Community mental health teams already provide a range of services for different conditions, including Eating Disorders, covering a range of intensities. The forthcoming SIGN guidelines for Eating Disorders will outline the evidence for treatment, and will be an important consideration to further inform how local areas respond to individual cases.

The Integration Joint Boards (IJB) Chief Officers Group is currently working to build a picture of which IJBs have formally adopted the terms set out in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) since its agreement earlier this year.

Although this work concluded earlier this year at a national level, timescales associated with local adoption of the MOU are expected to vary depending on the existing arrangements between individual Hospices and IJBs.

As set out in the Scottish Governments Rights, Respect and Recovery strategy we continue to support Harm Prevention work on a national level; this includes the potential provision of naloxone to first responders such as the Police.

Dialogue is ongoing between the Scottish Government and Police Scotland, with the latter recently establishing a short life working group to address; along with partners, the subject of Police access and carriage.