- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to advising NHS boards to follow NICE guideline 158 on the diagnosis, management and secondary prevention of venous thromboembolism in adults, published in 2020, until SIGN guideline 122 is updated.
Answer
Clinical guideline implementation is the responsibility of NHS Boards. The ultimate decision about a particular clinical procedure or treatment will always depend on each individual patient’s condition, circumstances and wishes, and the clinical judgement of the healthcare team.
Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guidelines have primacy in Scotland however NHS Boards and Integration Authorities may also choose to consider National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines in the planning and delivering services. Where there is not a current SIGN guideline in place Boards are expected to use other guidelines, such as NICE.
The decision to create, update and/or replace any SIGN guideline is not made by Scottish Government, it is made independently by the Evidence Directorate Work Programme Committee in Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS). Proposed guidelines under consideration can be found on the SIGN website: Our guidelines (sign.ac.uk) .
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many people are currently waiting for hip or knee replacement surgery in each NHS board.
Answer
Table 1 presents the number of patients covered by the Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG) waiting for a hip or knee replacement procedure within an inpatient or day-case setting by NHS Board at 31 st December 2021.
Table 1: Number of patients waiting for a hip or knee replacement procedure 1,2 as an inpatient or day case at 31 st December 2021, by NHS Board.
NHS Board | Waiting for hip replacement | Waiting for knee replacement | Total waiting |
NHS Scotland | 7,899 | 9,228 | 17,127 |
NHS Ayrshire & Arran | 680 | 789 | 1,469 |
NHS Borders | 236 | 242 | 478 |
NHS Dumfries & Galloway | 208 | 190 | 398 |
NHS Fife | 410 | 422 | 832 |
NHS Forth Valley | 219 | 239 | 458 |
NHS Grampian | 990 | 1,138 | 2,128 |
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde | 2,292 | 2,923 | 5,215 |
NHS Highland* | .. | .. | .. |
NHS Lanarkshire | 653 | 825 | 1,478 |
NHS Lothian | 1,346 | 1,546 | 2,892 |
NHS Orkney | 50 | 38 | 88 |
NHS Shetland | 0 | 36 | 36 |
NHS Tayside | 776 | 786 | 1,562 |
NHS Western Isles | 39 | 54 | 93 |
Source: PHS Waiting Times Datamart
1 NHS Highland do not submit procedure level detail (OPCS4 codes) to the Waiting Times Datamart. Some other Boards have less than 100% completeness for this field. Therefore, figures for NHS Scotland are a potential underestimate.
2 See background notes for specific OPCS4 codes used in this analysis
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have currently been waiting over (a) one year, (b) two years and (c) three years for hip or knee replacement surgery, also broken down by NHS board.
Answer
Tables 1 and 2 present the number of patients covered by the Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG) waiting within an inpatient or day-case setting by NHS Board at 31 December 2021, and the number waiting over 1, 2 and 3 years for a hip or knee replacement procedure, respectively.
Table 1: Number of patients waiting for a hip replacement procedure 1,2 as an inpatient or day case at 31 st December 2021, broken down by NHS Board of treatment and length of wait.
NHS Board of Treatment | Total Waiting | Waiting over 1 year 3 | Waiting over 2 years 3 | Waiting over 3 years 3 |
NHS Scotland | 7,899 | 1,762 | 210 | 2 |
NHS Ayrshire & Arran | 680 | 67 | 8 | 2 |
NHS Borders | 236 | 60 | 2 | 0 |
NHS Dumfries & Galloway | 208 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
NHS Fife | 410 | 35 | 0 | 0 |
NHS Forth Valley | 219 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
NHS Grampian | 990 | 310 | 41 | 0 |
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde | 2,292 | 702 | 132 | 0 |
NHS Highland 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. |
NHS Lanarkshire | 653 | 141 | 7 | 0 |
NHS Lothian | 1,346 | 279 | 0 | 0 |
NHS Orkney | 50 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
NHS Shetland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
NHS Tayside | 776 | 143 | 19 | 0 |
NHS Western Isles | 39 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Source: PHS Waiting Times Datamart
1 NHS Highland do not submit procedure level detail (OPCS4 codes) to the Waiting Times Datamart. Some other Boards have less than 100% completeness for this field. Therefore, figures for NHS Scotland are a potential underestimate.
2 See background notes for specific OPCS4 codes used in this analysis
3 Note that the number of patients waiting over 1 year includes those waiting over 2 years, which in turn includes those waiting over 3 years.
Table 2: Number of patients waiting for a knee replacement procedure 1,2 as an inpatient or day case at 31 st December 2021, broken down by NHS Board of treatment and length of wait.
NHS Board of Treatment | Total Waiting | Waiting over 1 year 3 | Waiting over 2 years 3 | Waiting over 3 years 3 |
NHS Scotland | 9,228 | 2,637 | 357 | 1 |
NHS Ayrshire & Arran | 789 | 121 | 26 | 1 |
NHS Borders | 242 | 112 | 21 | 0 |
NHS Dumfries & Galloway | 190 | 19 | 0 | 0 |
NHS Fife | 422 | 19 | 1 | 0 |
NHS Forth Valley | 239 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
NHS Grampian | 1,138 | 462 | 77 | 0 |
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde | 2,923 | 1090 | 193 | 2 |
NHS Highland 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. |
NHS Lanarkshire | 825 | 216 | 5 | 0 |
NHS Lothian | 1,546 | 400 | 0 | 0 |
NHS Orkney | 38 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
NHS Shetland | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
NHS Tayside | 786 | 185 | 33 | 0 |
NHS Western Isles | 54 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Source: PHS Waiting Times Datamart
1 NHS Highland do not submit procedure level detail (OPCS4 codes) to the Waiting Times Datamart. Some other Boards have less than 100% completeness for this field. Therefore, figures for NHS Scotland are a potential underestimate.
2 See background notes for specific OPCS4 codes used in this analysis
3 Note that the number of patients waiting over 1 year includes those waiting over 2 years, which in turn includes those waiting over 3 years.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what resources are being made available to NHS boards to help patients on their orthopaedic surgery waiting lists to remain healthy enough to be operated on, while they are waiting.
Answer
A procurement process is underway for a web-based PROMS system to track the condition of long-waiting patients. Information and resources are being updated on NHS inform, and some joint work is ongoing with Versus Arthritis.
Earlier this year, the Scottish Government announced an extra £240,000 through the Chronic Pain Winter Support Fund to help 13 Scottish Government-funded projects across Health Boards, third-sector and other partners to enhance the support available for people with chronic pain. The money will go towards a range of services for people experiencing painful conditions, including those with knee pain, and also provide support to help people remain physically active.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 11 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the announcement by Scottish Water of a 4.2% increase in charges for 2022-23, what percentage increase above inflation this decision represents for future years in terms of being able to meet the minimum income expectation, placed on Scottish Water by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, by the end of the regulatory settlement period in 2027.
Answer
The Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) has responsibility for setting charge caps and otherwise sets out expectations or forecasts including for income as a guide to Scottish Water and stakeholders. Across the 2021-27 regulatory period the maximum increase to charges will be capped at CPI+2% on average for each year of the regulatory control period. Scottish Water must propose charges in its Annual Scheme of Charges that are consistent with this average annual cap and the cumulative application of this cap. It has discretion as to the precise profile of charges that it seeks to levy on customers within the regulatory control period. In line with its statutory duties, WICS considers any Charges Scheme that could be consistent with the overall cap on the amount of charges that can be levied on customers during the 2021-27 regulatory control period. The average household charge for 2022-23 remains lower than the average charge in England and Wales.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the rising cost of living, what assessment it has made of the affordability of above inflation water charges for people who are not eligible for the Water Charges Reduction Scheme.
Answer
Water charges remain linked to the council tax banding of the house occupied. Higher banded houses are usually expected to be occupied by higher income households and so linking water charges to council tax band will frequently reflect ability to pay. But, importantly, the linkage to Council Tax also means that discounts and exemptions which apply to Council Tax are also available for water and sewerage charges. The present range of discounts is worth over £150m per year and helps to reflect an individual’s circumstances and ensure ability to pay.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that Scottish citizens who have received their COVID-19 vaccination outwith the UK are not able to be recognised as fully vaccinated on the NHS Scotland COVID Status app.
Answer
We have put in place a process for individuals who have received their coronavirus vaccinations outwith Scotland which allows them to upload official proof of vaccination from an approved country to their Scottish Vaccination Record through NHS Inform . This will allow those who have been vaccinated within the UK or internationally to receive a combined fully vaccinated status to show for travel and domestic purposes. We are working to increase the number of countries that this applies to.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government on what date guidance regarding the wearing of face masks in schools will be published.
Answer
The guidance on face coverings in schools was most recently updated on 17 February, and this updated guidance came into force on 28 February. This guidance is available at:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-reducing-the-risks-in-schools/
The removal of the requirement to wear face coverings in secondary school classrooms is a positive milestone which signals the possibility of a brighter future where schools can regain some normality. Pupils and staff who continue to choose to wear face coverings in class will be supported in doing so.
The remaining mitigations in schools, including the wearing of face coverings in communal areas, are being kept under review by the Advisory Sub-group on Education and Children’s Issues to ensure they remain appropriate, proportionate, and in line with wider society wherever possible. As always, we will ensure that all decisions on such mitigations are based upon the best available evidence and expert advice.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 17 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the model to reduce the number of headteachers that is reportedly being proposed by Argyll and Bute Council will improve educational attainment.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 17 March 2022
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 9 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many women were fitted with an Essure contraceptive coil from 2002 to 2017, when it was discontinued because of its side effects.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-14655 on 13 March 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
As of March 2022, 7 adverse events relating to the device have been submitted to NHS Scotland's Incident Reporting and Investigation Centre.
