Questions and answers

Question reference: S6O-02099

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will provide an update on pay negotiations with trade unions representing Scottish Parliament staff.

Question reference: S6W-16098

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how its proposed new cancer strategy will address the findings of the Cancer Research UK report, Cancer in the UK: Deprivation and cancer inequalities in Scotland, including the finding that more deprived populations (a) are less likely to take up cancer screening invitations, (b) are less aware of the signs and symptoms of cancer and (c) report more barriers to seeking help for potential symptoms.

Question reference: S6O-02092

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on investment in research and coordinated care services to support those living with long Covid.

Question reference: S6W-16019

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what its position is regarding the impact in Scotland of the UK's agreement to the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), including whether ECT membership is consistent with achieving climate change targets, and what recent discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding ECT membership.

Question reference: S6W-15618

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) Transport Scotland and (b) East Ayrshire Council regarding any potential risks on the A76 at Mauchline that may have been heightened by recent housing developments.

Transport Scotland, acting on behalf of the Scottish Ministers, is a statutory consultee in the planning process for all planning applications that have the potential to impact the performance and safety of the Trunk Road Network.

East Ayrshire Council consulted Transport Scotland on two separate planning applications for residential developments in Mauchline on the A76. Both planning applications were supported by detailed transport appraisals, the outcomes and recommendations from which were accepted by Transport Scotland. Following extensive dialogue with the developer regarding the proposed junction accesses onto the A76 trunk road, and submission of Road Safety Audits, Transport Scotland responded to the planning authority on both applications recommending approval subject to a number of conditions.

Question reference: S6W-15617

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of Scotland's preparedness for any future pandemics.

Question reference: S6W-15615

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether its work to prepare Scotland for any future pandemics is conducted (a) across Scottish Government portfolios and (b) alongside the work of other governments in the rest of the UK.

Preparation for outbreaks of infectious disease is an ongoing part of health protection. That work is led by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care but the breadth of response required to respond to pandemic events is laid out in the 2022 Strategic Framework Update for COVID-19 and the four-harms approach to decision-making used by the Scottish Government for the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with the UK Government and the other Devolved Administrations on a range of risks including pandemic preparedness. The Scottish Government works closely with the cross-government Pandemic Disease Capabilities Board to keep Scotland’s readiness up to date.

Question reference: S6W-15606

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to increase the number of acute care beds for people who require short-stay specialised beds.

There has been a significant, long term move towards procedures carried out as day-cases and reducing lengths of stay, to the benefit of patients meaning less time spent in hospital.

This includes significant progress in the delivery of same-day discharge arthroplasty, allowing patients to be safely discharged home on the same day as their procedure, increasing capacity within Orthopaedics.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery will enable us to see 140,000 new outpatients each year, an increase of 55,500 procedures per year by the end of this plan - a 20% increase over pre-Covid levels – and Specialty Delivery Groups have been set up to drive opportunities across regions on same day surgery, for example in gynaecology pathways.

Question reference: S6W-15608

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it is assisting NHS boards in their action to tackle any staff shortages in the South Scotland region.

While NHS Boards hold the direct responsibility for staffing, we are providing direct investment to assist boards, including those in the South Scotland region, in growing and retaining their workforce. This has included funding to support the recruitment of up to 750 nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals from overseas before April 2023.

In addition, our National Workforce Strategy sets out the actions we will take in partnership with Boards to plan, attract, train, employ and nurture the health and social care workforce.

Question reference: S6W-15607

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average waiting time is for a gynaecological consultation in (a) Scotland and (b) each NHS board, and how it plans to reduce these waiting times.

Statistics relating to the waits patients experience for a new outpatient attendance and inpatient or day case appointment at NHS Board and specialty level are published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) up to 31 st December 2022 and can be found using the following links:

New Outpatients - https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/18024/newop_feb23.xlsx

Inpatients/Daycases - https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/17838/ipdc_feb23.xlsx

The statistics published in the tables above include the median and 90th percentile waits in days for:

New outpatients waiting (‘1.1 Table’)
New outpatients seen (‘1.2 Table’)
Inpatients/day cases waiting (‘2.2 Table’)
Inpatients/day cases seen (‘2.1 Table’)

We continue to work intensively to clear long waits, which have been exacerbated by the impact of the global pandemic and are determined to provide NHS Boards with support necessary to drive improvements. This includes targets announced in July 2022 to address the backlog of planned care, maximising theatre productivity, optimising Golden Jubilee National Hospital capacity, and the delivery of the £1 billion NHS Recovery Plan to support sustainable improvements and new models of care, such as the National Treatment Centre Programme.

We are also working with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CFSD) and boards to embed regional and national working to ensure that long waiting patients can access treatment more quickly.

Chamber and committees