Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-20497

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 20 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to suggest that the charity, Cornerstone, and Unison, resolve any differences they may currently have through ACAS.

Question reference: S5W-20496

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 20 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it expects employers engaged in the delivery of public sector contracts to recognise trade unions.

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, provides for Scottish Ministers to publish Statutory Guidance on Addressing Fair Work Practices, including the Living Wage, in Procurement. This Guidance was published in October 2015, after consultation with Trade Unions. It states that where a Fair Work criterion is included in a procurement exercise, bidders are expected to describe how they adopt fair work practices, including, for example, their approach to supporting trade union recognition or alternative arrangements to give staff an effective voice.

Question reference: S5W-20433

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether the standard to begin treatment for people diagnosed with breast cancer within 31 days of the decision to treat following referral from a national screening programme is being met in 2018 for patients at (a) Royal Alexandria, (b) Inverclyde Royal and (c) Vale of Leven Hospital, and, if not, in how many cases it has not been met.

Question reference: S5W-20435

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether the standard to treat suspected breast cancer cases within 62 days following referral from a national screening programme is being met in 2018 for patients at the (a) Royal Alexandria (b) Inverclyde Royal and (c) Vale of Leven Hospital, and, if not, in how many cases it has not been met.

Question reference: S5W-20422

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 18 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20080 by Jamie Hepburn on 4 December 2018, whether it will provide the information broken down by occupational sector.

Question reference: S5W-20424

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 18 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-19993 by Joe Fitzpatrick on 3 December 2018, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding which NHS boards have a backlog for breast screening examinations, broken down by length of backlog; how many women at each centre have been waiting for more than three weeks for a screening; whether it will provide a breakdown of the reasons given by each centre for the delays, and by what date it expects each centre to operate without delays, and how it will monitor progress with this.

Information on delays within the Scottish Breast Screening Programme are recorded by six regional Breast Screening centres.

As of September 2018, the delays range from 1 to 2 weeks ahead of schedule to 23 weeks over. A full breakdown is in the following table. Tolerances of 3 months over or under the 3 year invitation cycle for breast screening are currently accepted, which allows for flexibility and changes in practice scheduling and invitees availability for appointments

Centre	Static Centre Waiting Times	Mobile Waiting Times
East	7 weeks behind schedule	Both units ahead of schedule.
West	2 weeks behind schedule	4 units are ahead of schedule. 2 units are 3 weeks behind schedule 1 unit is 2 weeks behind schedule
North East	2 weeks behind schedule	1 unit is on schedule. 1 unit is 4 weeks behind schedule
South East	3 weeks behind schedule	1 Unit is 5 weeks behind schedule 1 Unit is 8 weeks behind schedule 1 Unit is 10 weeks behind schedule 1 Unit is 12 weeks behind schedule 1 Unit is 13 weeks behind schedule
South West	6 weeks ahead of schedule	1 Unit is 7 weeks behind schedule 1 Unit is 23 weeks behind schedule
North	On schedule	1 unit is 3 weeks behind schedule

Delay is monitored locally and reported monthly to National Services Division who commission and manage the programme. Where delays are significant, screening centres are required to submit a robust action plan detailing the initiatives and timescales to reduce delays. The reasons for delays are multi-factorial and may include increases in the eligible population to be invited, changes at GP practice level, staffing or equipment issues and adverse weather events.

There is no centrally held information on:

how many women at each centre have been waiting more than three weeks for screening
a breakdown of the reasons by each centre for the delays
the date each centre is expected to operate without delay

Question reference: S5W-20340

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 14 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government which NHS boards have a backlog for bowel screening examinations, broken down by length of backlog.

Question reference: S5W-20341

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government which NHS boards have a backlog for diagnosis following a positive result from a bowel screening, broken down by length of backlog.

The new simpler bowel screening test ‘FIT’ was introduced in November 2017 and is helping to increase participation in the programme. The increase in uptake of bowel screening and in the proportion of returned bowel screening kits testing positive has placed some additional pressures on colonoscopy departments.

Earlier this year the Scottish Government launched an Endoscopy Action Plan, backed with £14 million of funding. This, along with our £850m Waiting Times Action Plan, will reduce the amount of time people will have to wait for these key diagnostic tests.

Validated data for Diagnostic Waiting Times Standards are published by NHS ISD quarterly and can be accessed through the ISD website: https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Waiting-Times/Publications/2018-11-27/2018-11-27-WT-Diagnostic-Report.pdf .

Question reference: S5W-20339

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what each NHS board’s recommended frequency is for bowel screening appointments, and how this compares with the actual frequency.

The Scottish Bowel Screening Programme invites all men and women in Scotland between the ages of 50 to 74 for bowel screening every two years. This is in line with recommendations from the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) an independent expert advisory group which advises the four UK countries about all aspects of screening policy.

Bowel screening involves taking a simple test at home. Eligible men and women, who are registered with a Community Health Index (CHI) number, are sent a letter and test kit in the post, which is completed at home and returned to the central Scottish Bowel Screening Centre in Dundee.

Once a patient is issued a test kit they will typically be invited to participate in screening again during the same month every 2 years until they are 74.

Question reference: S5W-20338

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) longest and (b) average waiting time has been in each year since 2010-11 for a bowel screening appointment, broken down by NHS board.

There is no backlog or waiting times in the Scottish Bowel Screening Programme.

Bowel screening involves taking a simple test at home. Eligible men and women, who are registered with a Community Health Index (CHI) number, are sent a letter and test kit in the post, which is completed at home and returned to the central Scottish Bowel Screening Centre in Dundee.

Once a patient is issued a test kit they will typically be invited to participate in screening again during the same month every 2 years until they are 74.

Chamber and committees