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: S4W-14828

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 23 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many oncologists have resigned for reasons other than retirement in the last 12 months.

Question reference: S4W-14850

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 23 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-14491 by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 May 2013, how it determined the budget allocation for local authorities.

Question reference: S4W-14692

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 21 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what has been done to publicise the National Confidential Alert Line to NHS staff.

5,000 posters and 158,000 credit card flyers promoting the National Confidential Alert Line were issued to all Health Boards in Scotland in March 2013. This followed a letter from Derek Feeley, Director General for Health and Social Care and Chief Executive of NHS Scotland, issued on 15 March 2013 to all NHS Boards, highlighting the launch of the Alert Line, its purpose, and requesting Health Boards appropriately display posters and distribute business card to members of staff.

In the coming months we will be providing information about the Alert Line on staff pay slips, making sure that all NHSScotland employees are aware of this important resource.

The Alert Line is also promoted on the NHS Staff Governance website and we are planning further promotion throughout the year.

Question reference: S4W-14672

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 21 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the nurse-to-patient ratio is.

Question reference: S4W-14691

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 21 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many calls have been received by the National Confidential Alert Line and, of these, how many have had substantive action taken.

The National Confidential Alert Line has received 53 calls in its first month since launching on 2 April 2013. 34 of these calls were from individuals who identified themselves as working for NHSScotland and 19 were from NHS workers from other parts of the UK.

Of the calls from Scotland 23 were from individuals raising concerns about patient safety or malpractice and 11 were about private or contractual matters.

Due to the confidential nature of the Alert Line, and to avoid potential identification of individuals, we will not be advised of the actions taken in regard to each call.

Question reference: S4W-14789

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what impact funding for a neuromuscular care advisor post in the north of Scotland will have on direct care and support for people affected by neuromuscular conditions.

In 2011, Ministers made a public commitment to neuromuscular diseases by issuing a joint statement in response to a report published by the Scottish Muscle Network (SMN), (commissioned by the Scottish Government), and the Mackie Report (compiled by the Muscular Dystrophy Cross Party Group). One of the key issues highlighted was access to neuromuscular care advisors (NCAs). We provided funding for three NCAs for a two year pilot project.

There are three NCAs, one in each of the Regional Planning Group Areas: West of Scotland, North of Scotland and the South East and Tayside.

The North of Scotland area has reported that the impact of this post in the short term, will be a smooth pathway for paediatric and adult neuromuscular patients, with supported access to services and advice. In the longer term, it will deliver a comprehensive map of services and pathways in each board within the North of Scotland area.

NHS National Services Division (NSD) will evaluate the three NCA posts. An interim report to the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorate (SGHSC) is due in September 2013, with a final report 12 months later.

The Regional Planning Groups, the SMN, SGHSC Directorate and NSD are working in collaboration to agree a national approach to the evaluation process.

Question reference: S4W-14832

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to (a) better understand and (b) tackle deliberate self-poisoning.

In late 2012, the Scottish Government set up a working group to consider future strategy and action on prevention of suicide and self harm, in the context that the Choose Life, strategy and action plan is approaching the end of its 10 year lifetime. This includes consideration of understanding and tackling self-poisoning.

The aim is to produce a new national strategy on suicide and self harm, to be published by the Scottish Government in late summer/early autumn 2013. The expectation is that the final document will contain ambitious but realistic commitments on reducing suicide and self harm; will be informed by evidence of what we know works; will contribute to increasing our knowledge and learning in this complex area; and will contain milestones and outcomes against which to measure progress.

To help inform the development of a new strategy, the Working Group developed an engagement paper. This was published on 25 February 2013, with a close date of 28 May 2013 for comments. With support from NHS Health Scotland’s Choose Life team, we have held several engagement events to provide professionals and members of the public with an opportunity to discuss key issues which they consider should be in a future strategy on prevention of suicide and self harm. Input from these events will be taken into consideration, together with written comments received, in the development of the new strategy.

More information is available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/Services/Mental-Health/Suicide-Self-Harm/Working-Group

Question reference: S4T-00360

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 May 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria are used to test patients to identify their genetic risk of developing breast cancer.

Question reference: S4W-14677

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 20 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the expected demand for qualified nurses in the NHS is for (a) 2013 to 2018 and (b) 2019 to 2023, also broken down by specialism.

Question reference: S4W-14676

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 20 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that the skills mix of nursing teams is appropriate to providing high standards of quality patient care.

The Scottish Government has worked with NHS Scotland to develop a suite of workload measurement tools which help ensure the most efficient and effective use of the nursing and midwifery resource.

As of April 2013, all NHS boards are expected to use the workload tools to inform local nursing and midwifery workforce planning as part of a broader approach that incorporates professional judgement and quality measures. Skill mix is one of the considerations that is taken into account when applying the workload tools.