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Information on hospital waiting times for the assessment and fitting of a hearing aid is only available on a quarterly basis from 2009 to quarter end 31 March 2014. From 2014 data on Audiology service waits is included as part of the 18 weeks referral to treatment waiting time data which is published quarterly by ISD. The 18 weeks referral to treatment performance information is based on an aggregate return from NHS Boards and does not provide specialty level data.

The following tables provide median waiting time for referral to first contact appointment and from assessment to fitting of a hearing aid.

NHSScotland Median Wait For Audiology: Referral To First Contact Appointment (completed waits for patients seen)

Source: ISD Scotland

.. Not available

NHSScotland Median Wait For Audiology: Assessment To Fitting Of hearing Aid (completed waits for patients seen)

Source: ISD Scotland

.. Not available

x Not applicable

The Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 was subject to rigorous scrutiny by the Scottish Parliament before its implementation.

The Scottish Government is committed to the principles of the Equality Act 2010 and to respecting, protecting and implementing human rights for everyone in Scotland. Our Programme for Government further detailed our ambitions for demonstrating equality, dignity and respect in everything we do and set out our intention to extend Free Personal care to all those under the age of 65 who require it.

A copy of data tables on the major acute sexually transmitted infections diagnosed in Scotland since 1999 by NHS board has been placed under BIB number 59019.

The Scottish Government will chair a meeting of the NHS Sexual Health and BBV Executive Leads on 29 September to discuss the situation of STI infections at board-level and to consider appropriate local as well as national responses.

Note: The data presented are based on laboratory positive diagnoses for chlamydia and gonorrhoea infection, and for infectious syphilis, Health Protection Scotland use an enhanced surveillance system based on clinical and laboratory reporting.

Since 1999, testing technology has improved for both chlamydia and gonorrhoea detection. The implementation of the SIGN 42 guidelines in 2001 (Management of genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection) led to improvements in sampling and the use of nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) which have greater sensitivity and specificity for the detection of chlamydia infection. Similarly, since 2008, NAATs have been increasingly used across Scotland for the detection of gonococcal infection with full geographic coverage by 2012. There has been an increase in detection and thus, diagnoses during this time. Since 2013, however, testing strategy has stabilised and trends since 2013 are more comparable than that with previous years.

Infectious syphilis infection re-emerged in Scotland in the early 2000s and the current data collection system began in 2002/2003. Prior to this, diagnoses were recorded using the genitourinary medicine clinic-based system. Data from 1999 to 2001 indicate there were 12, 22 and 24 diagnoses recorded, respectively.

In addition, as the data tables contain sensitive data, they have been adapted in accordance with National Services Scotland’s Statistical Disclosure Control Policy to prevent deductive disclosure. Thus, where there are values <5, these have been replaced by an asterisk (*); there may also be some secondary masking to prevent revealing values through adding and subtracting in rows and columns, these are also marked with an asterisk.

Information on the numbers of self-funded IVF cycles carried out in the 4 Assisted Conception Units that deliver NHS IVF, in each year since 1999 and associated costs, are not collected centrally.

As part of the work for the National Infertility Group, Information Services Division collected figures, where information was available, highlighting the numbers of self-funded IVF cycles carried out by NHS Assisted Conception Units. The information was subsequently published in the National Infertility Group report – March 2016, which can be accessed at: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00501403.pdf

This information is not held centrally.

This is a matter for individual Health Boards. The information is not held centrally.

Information on patients being absent or going missing is collected by Information Services Division through evidence on abscondment (from detention) This may have limited data.

The number of patients who have gone absent or missing from mental health facilities in each year since 1999 are shown in Table 1.

Patients who have gone absent or missing have only been determined by the code for abscondment. This may have resulted in limited data.

Due to the potential risk of disclosure and to help maintain patient confidentiality some values in the table below have been suppressed. These values are indicated by "<5". For more information see ISD's disclosure control policy:

http://www.isdscotland.org/AboutISD/Confidentiality/Disclosure_Protocol_v2.3_Fullversion.pdf

Table 1: NHS Scotland, 1999/2000 - 2015/2016: Absent or missing patients among SMR04 population, by financial year.

This information is not held centrally, it is a matter for individual Health Boards.

The Scottish Government published a respiratory prescribing strategy in 2014. Work is underway to develop an updated version. This is being led by officials and colleagues from NHS Scotland. It is intended that the strategy be published later in 2017.

The Scottish Government has completed the first round of stakeholder engagement regarding the Single National Formulary (SNF). An event for the NHS service was held on the 16 May 2017, and NHS National Procurement Scotland were in attendance. The event included a workshop for all attendees to give their views regarding the vision and possible structure of the SNF, and NHS National Procurement Scotland participated in this. There has been no further involvement in the development, implementation and management of the SNF. The role of National Procurement Scotland with the SNF has yet to be agreed.