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It is understood that NHS Lothian and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have already written to all patients and parents known to cleft surgery services, to update them on the transition to a single site cleft surgery service.

National Services Division have also said they aim to share the high level transition plan with all stakeholders once it is ready. This commitment was given to all stakeholders, including patients and families in the communication previously issued by NHS Lothian and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

NSD aim to share the transition plan with all stakeholders soon.

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Data for the number symptomatic referrals is not held centrally.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government was aware of the issues impacting on performance at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) on Thursday 20 April, which was due to a surge in demand following the Easter holidays. In terms of planning for peak periods and holiday weekends we would expect all parts of the hospital, in collaboration with social, primary and secondary care partners, to take action to ensure sufficient capacity is available in order to provide an optimal service for patients.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving performance on a sustainable basis and unnecessary long waits in A&E are not acceptable. NHS Lothian Health Board offered its assurance that the RIE quickly recovered its A&E performance following higher than average attendances at the RIE. Performance against the four hour target at the RIE in the week ending 23 April was 93.9%.

NHS Lothian is working closely with the National Unscheduled Care Team to implement and enhance working practices to support meeting its A&E waiting times target, minimising delays for patients. The National Unscheduled Care Team was on site at the RIE at the end of April to discuss this continuous improvement approach under the Six Essential Actions programme. We have been supporting the RIE to roll out ‘Daily Dynamic Discharge’ across its wards, which is aimed at improving the timeliness and quality of patient care from arrival to discharge from the hospital.

In terms of expanding the capacity of A&E services we would expect NHS Lothian to keep capacity of A&E services at the RIE under review.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-08980 on 10 May 2017. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at

The Scottish Government has recently provided funding to Action for M.E. to enable them to take forward a 12 month project. The Inform ME Scotland project will reach out to health and social care professionals and engage them in discussions about how to improve the support available to people with ME.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-08980 on 10 May 2017. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at

Information on the number of intensive-care and non-intensive care beds is provided for each hospital between 2003 and 2016. The tables are available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 58740).

The requested information is not held centrally.

Any violence or aggression against NHSScotland staff is unacceptable and we have policies in place to provide and continuously improve a safe working environment. Details can be found at the following link:-

The Scottish Government appreciates the role played by third sector organisations, and associated campaigns, which aim to provide support and information to people living with conditions such as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.

Scottish Government has a good relationship with Action for M.E. and is working closely with them to improve the lives of people who live with the condition.