Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-08612

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it first became aware of the reported shortage of hormone replacement therapy medication, and what action was taken to resolve the issue.

Shortages of medicines are an ongoing part of the day to day management of the NHS. Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) medicines and all other medicines experience supply issues for varying times and for varying reasons, including difficulty in sourcing core ingredients, divestment by pharmaceutical manufacturers and international market volatility. Many shortages are short in nature.

There are over 70 HRT products available in the UK. There have been ongoing supply problems with some products, some are irregular supply while others are a longer term shortage. The Scottish Government first issued (26 August 2019) NHS Circular PCA(P) (2019) 18 on HRT supply issues. Regular Medicines Supply Alert Notice (MSAN) are issued for any HRT product experiencing supply problems. All MSANs are published at SHOW - Scotlands Health On the Web - Publications

A serious of UK wide Serious Shortage Protocols (SSP)were introduced for the following HRT products

Premique® low dose 0.3mg/1.5mg modified release tablets

Oestrogel® pump-pack 750mcg/actuation gel,

Ovestin® 1mg cream,

Sandrena® 0.5mg and 1mg gel sachets,

Lenzetto 1.53mg transdermal spray

Each SSP is individually developed and authorised clinically, to enable community pharmacists and dispensing doctors to dispense a different strength or formulation or alternative medicine or appliances in accordance with the protocol, rather than having to refer prescribing decisions back to the original prescriber. These protocols are time limited. SSPs can be found at SHOW - Scotlands Health On the Web - Publications .

We continue to press the UK Government to seek a lasting resolution to HRT supply issues as quickly as possible.

Question reference: S6W-08483

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government which medicines are currently in short supply, and, in each case, which medicines can be used as alternatives, and by what date it expects each shortage to be resolved.

Question reference: S6W-08568

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 31 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to reduce the time taken to receive a coeliac diagnosis, and what role no-biopsy strategy would play.

Question reference: S6W-08567

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 31 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will assess the role of incentive schemes to support primary care physicians to encourage (a) earlier diagnostics for coeliac disease to be prescribed, and (b) the examination of any person who may have been misdiagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome.

Question reference: S6W-08569

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 31 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Coeliac Awareness Week, which ran from 9 to 15 May 2022, whether it will consider supporting the development of a coeliac training programme for primary care physicians and other allied healthcare professionals to improve current understanding of the disease and support its prompt diagnosis.

Question reference: S6W-08616

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 30 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the last (a) announced and (b) unannounced inspection took place at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, and whether reports of these inspections have been published.

Question reference: S6W-08084

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 30 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many pharmacists and other employees who work in pharmacies have died during the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland in the period from 1 March 2020 to 31 March 2022; how many of these deaths involved COVID-19; how many of these people's families have made a claim for the £60,000 death in service payment, and how many have received the payment to date.

National Records of Scotland publishes data on the number of people who have died in Scotland. Data for the period March 2020 to March 2022 on population deaths by occupation group, including data on deaths with Covid-19 mentioned on death certificates, is available here (table M7): https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/covid19/covid-deaths-22-monthly-data-week-14.xlsx

Data is available on ‘Health care worker’, provided below. Data on pharmacists and other employees who work in pharmacies is not available.

Occupation	Deaths from all causes	Deaths where Covid-19 mentioned
Health care worker	594	52

Please note, this categorisation of occupation does not specify the individual’s employer.

The NHS Scotland Coronavirus Life Assurance Scheme (CLAS) was established on 17 March 2020 as a special temporary scheme which provides a lump sum and survivors benefits in respect of NHS staff who die in service and who do not otherwise have equivalent life assurance cover provided through NHS Pension Scheme membership. The rules of Scheme provide for payment of benefits where it may reasonably be concluded that the individual contracted the disease in the course of performing their duties in a clinical environment and COVID-19 is a documented factor in their death.

The Scottish Public Pensions Agency have received 18 applications to CLAS and 16 of those have received payment.

Question reference: S6W-07923

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many retired staff have returned to work in the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The requested information is not centrally held. NHS Education for Scotland publishes annual data on joiners/leavers, but this information does not specify start date or professional background of joiners.

Information on joiners/leavers by staff group for each financial year can be found (turnover tab) here: https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/data-and-reports/official-workforce-statistics/all-official-statistics-publications/01-march-2022-workforce/dashboards/nhsscotland-workforce/?pageid=6429 .

Question reference: S6W-08548

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 24 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) public, (b) private and (c) third sector care homes have (i) been closed and (ii) changed provider in each of the last five years.

In relation to (a), (b) and (c)(i), the Care Inspectorate does not hold data in relation to care homes that have closed. However, the number of adult care home services in the public, private and third sectors which have had their registrations cancelled in each of the last five years is in the following table:



Service Type	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23 (as at 01-05-2022)	Grand Total
Public	12	7	8	6	5		38
Private	58	32	27	55	34	2	208
Voluntary or Not for Profit	18	26	12	7	16	1	80
Grand Total by year	88	65	47	68	55	3	326

In relation to (a)(b) and (c)(ii), the Care Inspectorate does not hold data in relation to care homes who have changed provider in the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-08406

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 20 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is providing additional funding to Breathing Space in order to support people experiencing mental health impacts as a result of the cost-of-living crisis.

In 2021-22, the Scottish Government funded NHS 24 £2,372,209 to support the delivery of Breathing Space, a free, confidential phone and web based service for people in Scotland experiencing low mood, depression or anxiety.

The Scottish Government recognise that demand for mental health support from NHS 24 continues to be high, that is why a significant investment of nearly £5 million was made from the Recovery and Renewal fund in 2021-22 to support the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub.

The Mental Health Hub is available for any individual calling the 111 service seeking support for their wellbeing and mental health, or if they are in distress, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Breathing Space and the Mental Health Hub will continue to support people experiencing mental health impacts as a result of the cost-of-living crisis as spending plans are developed and agreed with NHS Boards through the usual channels.