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The guidelines for the diagnosis of thrombosis and similar artery and vein clot conditions are provided by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), specifically SIGN 122 for the prevention and management of venous thromboembolism.

The Diagnostics in Scotland Strategic Group (DiSSG) is the national group that holds responsibility for ensuring the continued coherent development and delivery of high quality diagnostic services in Scotland. The DiSSG acts as an advisory board including providing strategic direction and advice on new diagnostic tests.

The NHS Recovery Plan commits to innovation in diagnostic procedures and an increase in capacity over the next 5 years of 90,000 procedures by 2025-26, including diagnostics of thrombosis and similar artery and vein clot conditions.

All NHS Boards in Scotland already have access to resources to support the early prevention of thrombosis-related deaths. These include SIGN 122, the national clinical guideline for the prevention and management of venous thromboembolism. The implementation of SIGN guidelines is the responsibility of NHS Boards.

People will have their Disability Living Allowance award selected for transfer to Adult Disability Payment if they would otherwise be required to claim Personal Independence Payment. These will be individuals that were under 65 on 08 April 2013 and, after 29 August 2022, report a relevant change of circumstances, are due to have their award renewed, or that ask to have their award transferred.

We estimate that approximately 3,000 people in Scotland could see their Disability Living Allowance awards transferred to Adult Disability Payment between 29 August 2022 and 29 August 2023.

It is not possible to provide the percentage of individuals admitted to NHS Scotland who are assessed for venous thromboembolism (VTE) as this data is not routinely recorded.

The General/Acute and Inpatient Day case Dataset (SMR01) contains records where pulmonary embolism and phlebitis and thrombophlebitis of the lower extremities are listed as the primary diagnosis.

These conditions are usually recorded in an inpatient setting, on the SMR01. The structure of the International Classification of Disease and Related Health Problems 10 revision (ICD10) does not allow for easy identification of Venous Thromboembolism.

There are 15 prisons located throughout Scotland, 2 of which are managed privately.

Responsibility for providing prison healthcare was transferred from Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to NHS in 2011, and as such the Scottish Government does not hold data on the mental health workforce.

Data such as the number of staff in post or vacancies is collected on specific job roles but not within specific settings such as prisons.

While the Scottish Government provides funding for recruitment under Action 15, workforce and service planning is conducted by Integration Authorities according to the needs of their populations.

Under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-27, 54.4 whole time equivalent (WTE) mental health posts have been recruited to in our prisons.

Potential extension of the Waverley line, to Carlisle via Langholm, and other route variations, was appraised as part of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2). Whilst the outcome was that the extension of the line was not included within the 45 draft recommendations, there does remain a path for regional or local rail projects to come forward, and Transport Scotland will consider these subject to a strong business case being developed in accordance with Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) and suitable funding being available. The Scottish Government have committed up to £5 million through the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal to enable regional partners to assess the benefits and challenges of extending the Borders Railway, and continue to work with partners to implement that commitment.

Through the Borderlands Inclusive Deal the Scottish Government have allocated up to £5 million to assess the benefits and challenges of extending the Borders Railway. That funding will be released on the achievement of agreed milestones, in line with the usual business case and governance processes that apply to all growth deal projects. As this is a joint funding commitment, the Scottish Government are currently awaiting the outcome of internal UK Government discussions on governance procedures to be able to align advice to partners and move things forward.

The Scottish Government has recently announced a new set of ambitious targets to eliminate long waits, with an initial focus on long waits over two years for new outpatients by August 2022 and for inpatients and day case procedures by September 2022.

We have recently stepped down the Clinical Prioritisation Framework that was in place since November 2020 to help Boards prioritise waiting lists throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

This move is a return to pre-pandemic approach of treating patients on an urgent and routine basis, giving Health Boards and clinicians full flexibility to manage waiting lists with a focus on eliminating long waits, as well as continuing to treat the most clinically urgent patients.

There are 91 locations providing A&E services across Scotland. Of these, 30 are classed as Emergency Departments - larger A&E services that typically provide a 24 hour consultant led service.

The requested data on the number of mental health workers in A&E departments is not centrally collected. Data such as the number of staff in post or vacancies is collected for specific mental health professional groups in the NHS, but cannot be broken down by settings such as A&E.

Under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-27, an additional 179.2 whole time equivalent mental health posts have been created in A&E departments.

There are additional treatment options for selected groups of people with COVID-19 who are thought to be at high risk with a prioritised clinical condition, as well as those taking part in registered clinical trials related to COVID-19. The high risk group does include those with rare neurological conditions such as:

• multiple sclerosis
• motor neurone disease
• myasthenia gravis
• Huntington’s disease

The decision on whether to prescribe a medicine for a patient is entirely for their clinician. Information on the arrangements for direct access to COVID-19 treatments in Scotland can be found at: Coronavirus (COVID-19): Treatments | NHS inform .

High risk individuals who have been diagnosed with chronic neurological disease are now included in the clinical risk group of the autumn/winter booster programme as advised by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

The following groups will be offered an additional booster dose from Sept 2022:

• residents in a care home for older adults and staff working in care homes for older adults
• frontline health and social care workers
• all adults aged 50 years and over
• those aged 5 to 49 years in a clinical risk group, including pregnant women
• those aged 5 to 49 years who are household contacts of people with immunosuppression
• carers aged 16-49 years

Letters will be sent out to the first eligible groups next month with appointments beginning in Sept. Discussions on the details of the delivery timetable are underway with health board partners. More information will be made available in due course.