Various health queries: FOI release

Information requested

Could you supply all documentation hello by the Scottish Government, including correspondence sent and received (including internal), minutes/notes from meetings, briefings, analysis, about privatising some NHS treatments, from the last three months?

Could you supply all documentation hello by the Scottish Government, including correspondence sent and received (including internal), minutes/notes from meetings, briefing analysis, about a&e waiting times, from last month?

Could you supply all minutes/notes from meetings held by the National Gender Identity Healthcare Reference Group from the last six months?

How much money has the Scottish Government given to private healthcare companies in the last three years, with a breakdown per year and what the money was spent on?

In 2023, Humza Yousaf promised £8m for 300 beds to help with delayed discharge. Could you supply what that money was spent on, and any analysis of the impact it had on delayed discharge?

Response

To allow me to provide you with a full reply, I have responded to each of your five points raised in order below.

1. Under point 1 of your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 you asked:

“Could you supply all documentation hello by the Scottish Government, including correspondence sent and received (including internal), minutes/notes from meetings, briefings, analysis, about privatising some NHS treatments, from the last three months”

For clarity we interpreted your request as any correspondence sent or received (including internal communications), minutes/notes from meetings, briefings and analysis which referred to any active work or discussions about privatising any treatments with in the NHS and not use of the private sector with no cost to patients.

The answer to your request is - no documents were identified that covered this request. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

The Scottish Government’s policy position is that our National Health Service must be maintained on its founding principles – publicly owned, publicly operated, and free at the point of need. The provision of health services must always be based on the individual needs of a patient.

NHS Scotland makes limited use of the independent sector. The use of the independent sector to provide additional capacity is not a new development. As is the case across the UK, in certain circumstances limited use of alternative providers, including independent sector providers, may be required in response to capacity constraints.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

2. Under point 2 of your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 you asked:

“Could you supply all documentation hello by the Scottish Government, including correspondence sent and received (including internal), minutes/notes from meetings, briefings, analysis, about a&e waiting times, from last month”

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600.

You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner’s ‘Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs’ on his website at:
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx

3. Under point 3 of your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 you asked:

"Could you supply all minutes/notes from meetings held by the National Gender Identity Healthcare Reference Group from the last six months’’

This request was interpreted as any and all minutes and/or notes relating to/reflecting on/reporting on/capturing the proceedings of any meeting of the National Gender Identity Healthcare Reference Group that took place in the six months preceding and including the date when the request was made. The qualifying period considered for this request was between 5 February 2025 and 5 July 2025 inclusive.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. This is because no meetings of National Gender Identity Healthcare Reference Group were held within the identified time period.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

4. Under point 4 of your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 you asked:

“How much money has the Scottish Government given to private healthcare companies in the last three years, with a breakdown per year and what the money was spent on”

The answer to your question is that the Scottish Government has not provided any direct funding to private healthcare companies in the last three years. NHS Scotland Health Boards would be responsible for the management of any contracts with external providers, therefore the information requested would be held within those NHS Boards and is not routinely reported to the Scottish Government.

You may wish to contact individual Health Boards directly to request this information. Contact details for Health Boards can be found on their websites, links to which are available at: https://www.scot.nhs.uk/organisations/.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

5. Under point 5 of your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 you asked:

“In 2023, Humza Yousaf promised £8m for 300 beds to help with delayed discharge. Could you supply what that money was spent on, and any analysis of the impact it had on delayed discharges”

The answer to your question is that between 10 January 2023 and 31 March 2023, 494 people were discharged to an interim care home bed placement using the offer of Scottish Government funding to cover costs above the National Care Home Contract rate. You can view the published Interim Care Placement uptake figures on the Scottish Government website using this link: Interim care placement uptake - gov.scot.

Although no official evaluation or analysis of the impact is held the published Delayed Discharge statistics for December 2022 showed that 1,838 people were delayed in hospital. The delayed discharge figure for March 2023 was 1,688 people delayed in hospital, a reduction of 150 people in delay during the period that Scottish Government funding for interim care beds was available. The Delayed discharges in NHS Scotland monthly statistics are available at: Delayed discharges in NHSScotland monthly - Publications - Public Health Scotland

Annex - Reasons for not providing information

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. As such, I hereby provide you with formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

In relation to points 1 and 4

The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because this this not a Scottish Government policy.

In relation to point 3

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. This is because no meetings of National Gender Identity Healthcare Reference Group were held within the identified time period.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.