The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) has not carried out activity to review access to hysterectomies for women of a child-bearing age. This is because reviewing access to a service is not within the remit of SIGN. SIGN develops guidelines for NHSScotland that make evidence-based recommendations for diagnosis and treatment of patients.

Following the resignation of the Chair due to ill health, the work of the Taskforce and its work streams was concluded with the publication of final recommendations on 4 July 2019.

The Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme Board has been established to implement the recommendations, and met for the first time on 22 August 2019.

The Programme Board will build on the work of the Taskforce workstreams and will make a move from a policy development phase into a delivery and implementation phase.

To support continuity between these two phases the Programme Board’s membership currently includes representation from previous members of Children and Young People’s Mental Health Taskforce and its workstreams.

The first meeting of the Programme Board included submissions and presentations from individuals involved in the Taskforce and its workstreams to help inform the work of the board going forward.

The treatment of secondary dysmenorrhoea is determined by whatever the underlying condition is. Specific guidance exists for some of these conditions and a hysterectomy may be indicated as a treatment option for some. Current guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence covers the various treatment options available to women, including surgery where appropriate. The decision on what treatment pathway to follow should be agreed through shared decision making between the individual and their doctor.

The Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme Board’s membership includes representation from previous members of Children and Young People’s Mental Health Taskforce. This provides continuity between the policy development phase carried out by the Taskforce and the delivery and implementation phase which will be taken forward by the Programme Board.

The first meeting of the Programme Board included submissions and presentations from individuals involved in the Taskforce to help inform the work of the board going forward.

An Advisory Group made up of a range of key advisors from across sectors will be established and will be available to provide support and guidance to the Programme Board. This will provide a forum through which those involved in the Taskforce, and other key stakeholders can engage with the work of the Programme Board.

The Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme Board are currently considering a final version of its Terms of Reference. This document along with minutes from Programme Board meetings will be published on www.gov.scot in October 2019.

The Terms of Reference document will make reference to the work of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Taskforce as well as the work of the Youth Commission on Mental Health.

The Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Programme Board has been established to implement the recommendations of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Taskforce, as published in July 2019.

The Programme Board will build on the work of the Taskforce and as such will incorporate the actions set out in the Delivery Plan document where appropriate. It will also take account of the work of the Youth Commission on Mental Health, the Audit of Rejected Referrals and the Audit Scotland Report on Children and Young People’s Mental Health.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government, and would require to be requested from NHS Boards.

ISD Scotland publishes summary detail on medical agency expenditure. This is available from 2013-14 onward from the following location:

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/data-tables2017.asp

Realistic Medicine is not about restricting access to treatment. It is about ensuring that people are actively involved in decisions about their care.

By using the scientific evidence alongside clinical judgement and people’s preferences and values, healthcare professionals can facilitate evidence based practice that people truly value.

People will not always be given what they want, because there may be times when it may not be clinically appropriate or practical to do so. However, healthcare professionals and patients should feel able and willing to have meaningful conversations that will allow them to share decisions about their treatment and care and make an informed choice.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting the parties to jointly agree an appropriate resolution; I wrote to Unite on 21 August, in advance of the commencement of industrial action to confirm this, and to request that all parties to this dispute work constructively and pragmatically in the interests of the affected staff group. Both NHS Tayside and Unite the union have been advised that established procedures exist for the resolution of disputes of this nature through the Scottish Terms and Conditions Committee (STAC), where it is not possible to conclude a resolution locally.

We understand that latterly NHS Tayside has not been able to conclude a local appeal process. Accordingly the matter has now been referred to STAC who will convene a national job evaluation panel on behalf of the parties. The Committee has now met with the parties to confirm that a national matching panel will be established and it is working to set this up as soon as is practicable.

The total investment in the Scottish Access Collaborative (SAC) since 2017 is approximately £4.3 million. The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport launched the Collaborative in November 2017 to support the setting up of the infrastructure to progress this work, which was closely aligned with the Diagnostic and Treatment Centre Strategy, Regional Planning, Realistic Medicine and Performance Management and Delivery Activities and Programmes.

This investment included approximately £1.5 million which was made available in 2018-19 to support the waiting times improvement plan, launched in October 2018. £2.8 million has been committed in 2019-20 to develop and test identified areas of good practice and the findings from these workstreams will be reported and shared, once available.