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A variety of risk assessments are undertaken across all wards in the Hospital, including 4a and 4b, covering social distancing, hand hygiene, infection control precautions (SICPs) audits every 6 months, patient placement, and the verification of the specialist ventilation systems in ward 4b. The new and innovative Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) dashboard available to all staff enables real time review of IPC data, and allows for a quick and effective response to any risks reported.

The under 26’s review has been undertaken during a period of time where there has been considerable changes in the policy landscape within which concessionary travel rests, and there currently remains a level of uncertainty as the long term impacts of COVID-19 on public transport are not yet known.

During the review process a commitment was made to introduce free bus travel to under 19s, which was then extended to under 22s which is due to be introduced on 31 January 2022. The impact of the under 22s scheme will provide useful real-world evidence for examining further cost-benefit analysis and determining the value of any future extensions of free bus travel (or other modes) for targeted age ranges or groups of society.

The under 26’s review is being finalised for publication and will be published following the introduction of the under 22s scheme.

The Scottish Government is not considering the introduction of sanctions for any contractor which breaches its NHS contract at present. The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009, set out the provision of NHS pharmaceutical services and requirements for those entered on the Boards Pharmaceutical List.

The Achieving Excellence in Pharmaceutical Care strategy, published in 2017, commits the Scottish Government to review contractual arrangements and as such may consider the introduction of sanctions as part of any future strategy framework.

The Scottish Government continues to work with Health Boards, Community Pharmacy Scotland and other stakeholders across the sector to address any challenges faced by temporary closures of community pharmacies.

The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer has committed to putting together a workforce forum which will meet in early 2022. The forum will look at the workforce challenges and bring together stakeholders from pharmacy education and pharmacy service provision to set a strategic workforce plan for the profession.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05094 on 5 January 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

NHS Scotland’s staffing levels are at a record high, following nine years of consecutive growth. This includes record numbers of staff within the nursing and midwifery job family.

Creating new vacancies is an essential part of workforce expansion and are to be expected as we work to rapidly grow our nursing and midwifery workforce. The nursing and midwifery establishment has increased by 7.6% in the last year, or by 4,924.6 whole time equivalent posts. 77% of the nursing and midwifery vacancies reported at September 2021 have been recorded in the last three months, reflecting the extensive range of new posts being created.

We have announced a record £300 million of investment to support Health Boards and their staff over the coming months, as well as over £1 billion of funding through the NHS Recovery Plan. Through these investments, £4.5m of funding is being made available to Health Boards to attract registered nurses from outside Scotland. This is supplemented by an additional £1m to enhance Boards’ capacity for international recruitment, and £1m of recurring funding to fund International Recruitment Lead posts in Boards. We are also investing £11 million over the next 5 years in new recruitment activity and through the recent launch of the National Centre for Workforce Supply, which will coordinate national and international recruitment campaigns and support Health Board recruitment teams.

We have also worked with Boards to take forward a nationally coordinated recruitment campaign for midwives, and will undertake a focused national marketing campaign for the recruitment of Band 5 Nurses early in the new year.

We continue to invest in the domestic supply of nurses and midwives through the long-term growth of funded education programmes. Student nurses and midwives entering funded degree programmes will increase in 2022-23 to a total recommended intake of 4,837. This will be the 10th successive intake, doubling the number of students in the last decade.

A clinical refresh of the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer has been completed with revised guidance published in January 2019. The Guidelines support primary care clinicians in ensuring those with symptoms suspicious of cancer are put on the right pathway at the right time, including possible skin cancers.

In December 2021, the Scottish Government published a refreshed Framework for Effective Cancer Management. This Framework provides NHS Cancer Teams with the tools to effectively manage USC patients from the point of referral to first treatment to improve patient experience and cancer waiting times. Tailored support will be provided to all NHS Boards to ensure the eight key elements are embedded, where relevant, across cancer pathways and specialties, including dermatology.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) is working with a number of Health Boards to implement the Digital Dermatology app, which allows patients to interact with a clinician at a time convenient to them, without having to attend hospital. This will support dermatology teams in conducting more virtual appointments. CfSD also supports a Dermatology Pathways app and website which provides clinically validated pathway information to GPs and other health professionals for many of the most common skin conditions, with the aim of supporting access for patients who most need treatment in the most appropriate care setting. As part of this, CfSD is working with the British Association of Dermatologists to increase the number of pathways covered by this approach.

For information on Scottish Government action to address nursing vacancies I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05019 on 5 January 2022.

NHS Lanarkshire is receiving a proportional share of funding allocations for the recruitment of qualified nurses and the enhancement of Health Board recruitment capacity.

NHS Lanarkshire's qualified nursing and midwifery workforce has increased by 28.5% since 2006, exceeding the 12.1% growth across NHS Scotland.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

In Scotland, NHS Forth Valley is hosting a national project to support early diagnosis of skin cancer supported by digitalisation, the use of high-quality images, and machine learning. The project is called 25 by 25 - diagnosing cancer within 25 minutes by 2025. Industry, academics, and NHS are collaborating to rapidly innovate to create AI solutions in skin cancer.

This work is supported through the Scottish Health Industry Partnership and linked to the Health and Social Care and Wellbeing Programme. It takes the form of a number of challenges where partners innovate to find solutions to preparing images, creating AI learning environments, and real world Test Beds to try out new approaches in primary care with Consultant Dermatologist support.

The Scottish Government has invested in the Detect Cancer Early programme in this area, has committed to investing in an AI Hub, and has prioritised the 25 by 25 programme for innovation investment in 2022.

This will enable AI innovation in the form of AI enabled triage, diagnostics, and treatment decision making support for Clinicians.