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The Scottish Government considered advice and views from a wide variety of sources in preparing the consultation document. From within the public sector that included advice from Food Standards Scotland (FSS) and supporting evidence in 3 papers (January 2016, October 2016 and March 2017) which are available on the FSS website .

The Scottish Government also commissioned Health Scotland to carry out a rapid evidence review, and this was published on the NHS Health Scotland website on 30 October 2017 .

Further views will be provided as part of the consultation, following which the Scottish Government will as always seek any advice necessary as it shapes its policy and to ensure that any legislation would be within legislative competence when introduced to the parliament.

This information is not held centrally.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-12026 on
1 November 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 is fully committed to ensuring that all patients have swift access to the full range of services they need from the NHS in Scotland.

The number of consultants with a specialty of clinical radiology working in NHSScotland have increased by 41.9 per cent under this Government, to 317.2 Whole Time Equivalent. We have also increased radiology training places by 20 per cent in the last four years.

Cancer waiting times data for the second quarter of 2017 shows that 94.8% of cancer patients across Scotland received treatment within 31 days of a decision to treat, with the average wait being only 6 days. The Scottish Government are actively engaging NHS Boards where there are challenges to sustained delivery against the 62-day standard.

Our new Ministerial Cancer Performance Delivery Group will focus on driving forward improvements in waiting times for diagnosis and treatment for cancer patients. Backed by an additional £1 million investment to roll-out new technology, this would allow consultants to report on diagnostic scans taken anywhere in the country, helping to address short-falls in capacity in some areas.

We have also invested £4.85m in 2017 to support improvement in diagnostic scopes and imaging capacity for suspected cancer patients.

Furthermore, in September 2017 we announced an additional £3 million to increase the number of radiology trainees in Scotland by at least fifty over the next five years.

There has been ongoing communication between the Government and Kindred over the last weeks. The Scottish Government currently provides £64,000 annually through the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention Fund to support the infrastructure of the organisation awarded through open and transparent competition.

Officials from Corra Foundation, the administrators of this fund are working alongside Scottish Government officials with Kindred to support them to establish a way forward.

Kindred is also a delivery partner in the Let’s Talk ASN Service, receiving £30k of the total £100k grant from Scottish Government until March 2018.

The Best Start recommends: "All NHS Boards should review their current access to perinatal mental health services to ensure early and equitable access is available to high quality services, with clear referral pathways. NHS Boards should ensure adequate provision of staff training to allow staff to deliver services to the appropriate level. Primary midwives, in partnership with primary care colleagues, should play a proactive and systematic role in the identification and management of perinatal mental health care"

Scottish Government has asked all NHS Boards to outline their existing provision of psychologist support for parents of neonates. At present NHS Boards have a varied level of provision, we are working with Local Implementation Leads under the Best Start to ensure early and equitable access.

The Scottish Government has ensured that by legislating to require local authorities to offer deferred payment agreements, no-one should have to sell their home during their lifetime to fund the cost of their residential care.

The Scottish Government introduced free personal and nursing care for people aged 65 and over in July 2002. The Local Authority pays for these elements of the residential care for all those assessed as needing them. The current rates are
£171 per week for personal care and this rises to £249 per week if nursing care is also required. The Scottish Government reviews these payment rates on an annual basis.

You may also be aware we have committed to the extension of Free Personal Care to all under 65s who require it regardless of condition, Scottish Ministers have committed that this extension will be in place by 1 April 2019. This will benefit younger people in residential care.

In the current financial year almost half a billion pounds of NHS spending will be invested in social care services, underlining the importance we attach to improving services, and ensuring that people are able to receive care in their own homes or in a homely setting.

In Scotland there are three regional Neonatal Managed Clinical Networks (MCNs), for the West of Scotland (WoS), South East and Tayside (SEAT) and North of Scotland (NoS). The MCNs aim to hold meetings quarterly however this will vary depending on business need.

The aims of the networks are:

• To support the delivery of high quality neonatal care for all their residents

• To ensure that mothers and babies are treated in the right hospital at the right time and by the right staff with the appropriate skills.

• To agree a model of care based on core values where provision of care should be provided as close to home as possible, minimising transport where possible but accepting that some babies may require transfer for intensive care services

• Agree pathways of care and clinical guidelines

• To provide high quality services by addressing key issues such as data collection, capacity, workforce, education and training of staff

• To audit activity and outcomes of neonatal services both across the network and against national statements within Neonatal Care in Scotland: A Quality Framework, published in March 2013 (see link on page)

• To consult with and collaborate with users of the service to enhance the services and their experiences

• Each neonatal MCN to work inter-regionally

The North of Scotland region MCN includes the following Boards:

• Highland

• Grampian,

• Orkney,

• Shetland,

The West of Scotland region MCN includes the following Boards:

• Ayrshire & Arran,

• Dumfries & Galloway,

• Forth Valley,

• Greater Glasgow & Clyde,

• Lanarkshire, and

• Western Isles.

South East and Tayside region MCN includes the following Boards:

• Lothian,

• Tayside,

• Fife,

• Borders

Following recommendations in The Best Start, work is underway to facilitate the transition from three regional MCNs to one national MCN.

Within the NHS there is absolutely no assumption that mothers expecting a disabled child will want to terminate the pregnancy.

The Scottish Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme aims to ensure that women and couples are provided with high quality information so that they can make an informed choice about their screening options and pregnancy choices.

Information on vacancies for consultants with a specialty of clinical radiology is published by ISD Scotland and is available at the following web link:-

Information on consultant vacancies outwith NHSScotland is not held centrally.