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-22587

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to women of menopausal age who have a disability, long-term health condition, or identify as an ethnic minority.

The Women’s Health Plan recognises that many women face multiple and often overlapping disadvantages and barriers to health and healthcare. That is why we aim to take an intersectional approach across all the actions in the Women’s Health Plan, so that all women enjoy the best possible health throughout their lives.

This includes the NHS Inform Women’s Health Platform which has comprehensive information on menopause translated into five languages, easy read and BSL.

We are working closely with The Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE) who continue to support the work of the Plan through their dedicated lived experience programme. This included a series of webinars on menopause, with live British Sign Language interpretation as well as visual resources. The resources are available online, or via hard copy.

The ALLIANCE have also produced a toolkit for delivering Conversation Cafes to facilitate informed and open conversations among women about women’s health – including menopause - with an accompanying resource hub . This model also supports the sharing of information with women who cannot or prefer not to access information online.

Question reference: S6O-02795

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how the Staff Cost Provision uprating for 2024-25 will be calculated.

Question reference: S6W-22494

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will set out the membership of the (a) Best Start Review Group and (b) Sub-Group on Neonatal Models of Care, broken down by the (i) duration and (ii) role of each person's membership of the group.

The membership of the Best Start Review Group and the Best Start Sub-Groups is published in Appendix E and Appendix F of the Best Start Report , published in 2017. This includes the members job titles and organisation, and the remits of the sub groups. The remit of the Neonatal Models of Care sub group was agreed by the Best Start Review Group and is published in Appendix F. The role of each member of the sub group was to deliver the remit.

Members were appointed to the Review Group for the duration of the review (October 2015 to January 2017) and the Neonatal Models of Care Sub Group for the duration of that group (February 2016 – August 2016)

The Perinatal Sub Group of the Best Start Implementation Programme Board was convened in 2017 to take forward the Neonatal Intensive Care recommendation, and other Best Start recommendations. The Group continues to meet and the membership has changed over the lifetime of the group. The members at the time that the Options Appraisal Report was sent to Ministers is listed on page four of that report.

Question reference: S6W-22570

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the projected figures for (a) Additional Inpatient and Day case Activity, (b) Outpatient activity, and (c) Additional Diagnostic Procedures, as outlined in the NHS Recovery Plan, and in light of the commitments included in its Programme for Government 2023-24, (i) what modelling was used in preparing the data, (ii) whether the projected estimates for the financial year 2022-23 were delivered and (iii) whether revised projected figures will be published.

The 2023 annual NHS Recovery Plan progress update is being finalised and will be issued in the coming weeks.

The Plan sets out commitments to implement improvements and new models of care by increasing NHS capacity as soon as possible. Inpatient and Day case activity increased by 39% from 2020-2021 to 2021-2022 and a further 16% increase to 2022-2023. New Outpatient activity increased by 44% from 2020-2021 to 2021-2022 and a further 4% increase to 2022-2023 demonstrating our continued recovery from the pandemic.

Question reference: S6W-22567

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the Specialty Delivery Groups that have been established to date by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery, including their (a) membership, (b) terms of reference and/or objectives and (c) outcomes (i) anticipated and (ii) achieved.

NHS Scotland’s Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) Specialty Delivery Groups (SDG’s) have been established to support, innovate and develop high quality services across Scotland, reducing unwarranted variation, promoting a 'best in class' services and, where appropriate, a 'once for Scotland' approach.

The multi-disciplinary groups, which include clinician and operational managers, have remit across the following areas: Processes, Pathways, Workforce, Innovation and Measurement.

The SDGs provides strategic direction for the work-programme in the following specialities:

Cataract
Dermatology
Ear Nose and Throat
Gastroenterology
General Surgery
Gynaecology
Neurology
Orthopaedics
Rheumatology
Symptomatic Breast
Urology
Vascular Surgery

The groups focus on implementation of existing proven programmes such as Actively Clinical Referral Triage (ACRT) and discharge Patient Initiated Review (PIR) and high impact changes such as Day Surgery and Enhanced Recovery after Surgery.

ACRT and PIR focus on 6 key specialties: Dermatology, ENT, General Surgery, Gynaecology, Orthopaedics, and Urology. Between April 2022 to March 2023, these specialties have managed almost 66,000 referrals through ACRT by returning patients to primary care and almost 43,000 patients were added to discharge PIR pathways.

SDGs also have a key role in establishing and embedding new approaches and innovations, such as Cytosponge and Colon Capsule Endoscopy.

Further information about each of the SDG’s can be found on CfSD’s website.

Question reference: S6W-22289

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to fund the recently announced additional £100 million in each of the next three years to reduce NHS waiting lists.

The new annual funding will allow us to maximise capacity, build greater resilience into the system and deliver year-on-year reductions in the number of patients who have waited too long for treatment. It is expected the additional £100 million investment will help reduce inpatient and day-case waiting lists by an estimated 100,000 patients over three years.

As you know, decisions on the Government’s spending plans for 2024-25 and future years are subject to the outcome of the Scottish Budget process and associated approval by the Scottish Parliament. Therefore decisions on the allocation of this funding will be made following this process, along with more detail on year-on-year reductions. The Scottish Government intends to present the Draft Budget 2024-25 to Parliament on 19 December 2023.

Modelling scenarios that supported this are based on all inpatient/day-case specialities with a clear focus on the highest number of patients waiting for treatment, including ENT, General Surgery, Trauma and Orthopaedics and Ophthalmology. The modelling builds-in the capacity created through the implementation of productive opportunities and the redesign and expansion of community services, such as the Community Glaucoma Service and General Ophthalmic Services, as well as efficiencies such as regional and national working and maximising theatre capacity, including the new NTCs, through extended working.

Question reference: S6W-22292

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its recent commitment to invest an additional £100 million in each of the next three years to reduce NHS waiting lists, what the estimated reduction in waiting lists will be by the end of (a) 2024 and (b) 2025.

Question reference: S6W-22290

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to allocate the recently announced additional £100 million in each of the next three years to reduce NHS waiting lists.

Question reference: S6W-22291

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its recent commitment to invest an additional £100 million in each of the next three years to reduce NHS waiting lists, what (a) modelling was undertaken to determine that waiting lists will be reduced by 100,000 by 2026 and (b) the estimated level of waiting lists by 2026 would be without this funding package.

Question reference: S6W-22467

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 November 2023

To ask Scottish Government how many additional allied health professional (AHP) training spaces have been created as a result of the increase in training provision, as outlined by the Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social care during his ministerial statement on winter planning and resilience on 24 October 2023, broken down by profession.

The Scottish Government has significantly expanded AHP training, recruiting 335 Scottish-domiciled students each year for paramedic education programs from 2023 to 2026, and 25 students for specialist prosthetics and orthotics education programs each year from 2022 to 2026. With a substantial investment of £45 million recurrently for the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS), and an additional £5 million, 317 staff are being recruited, including clinicians for an integrated clinical hub, enhancing triage and reducing emergency response needs. Additionally, £4.5 million is allocated to train 225 more MSK practitioners in Primary Care, and £1.2 million enhances Reporting Radiography training by 30 spaces.

As part of the Scottish Government's commitment to a sustainable healthcare workforce, efforts include creating opportunities for AHP career advancement. Key features of the AHP Education and Workforce Policy Review, are being implemented through an ongoing plan, demonstrating a comprehensive approach to fostering the growth and advancement of the AHP workforce.