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-20216

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the supplementary to question S4O-03002 by Alex Neil on 12 March 2014 (Official Report, c. 28811), what evidence the cabinet secretary has to support the argument that "the [patient safety] programme is probably a major contributing factor to why the mortality rate at weekends is no higher than it is during the week".

The Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) is admired across the world in relation to its results with reliably implementing evidence based interventions. The SPSP is about delivering reliable, safe care for every patient, every time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Since the acute SPSP was initiated in 2008, there has been a 12.5% reduction in hospital standardised mortality ratios since 2007.

Question reference: S4W-20215

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the supplementary to question S4O-03002 by Alex Neil on 12 March 2014 (Official Report, c. 28811) what evidence the cabinet secretary has to support the argument that "the Scottish health service is the safest in the world as a result of the patient safety programme".

Independent support to this argument has been provided by Donald Berwick, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement who is quoted as saying "The Scottish Patient Safety Programme, marks Scotland as a leader, second to no nation on earth, in its commitment to reducing harm to patients, dramatically and continually."

We have a range of data from the Scottish Patient Safety Programmes which supports progress in Acute Care, Primary Care, Mental Health and Maternity and Paediatrics.

Question reference: S4W-20212

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4O-03002 by Alex Neil on 12 March 2014 (Official Report, c. 28810) whether it will publish the (a) mortality data and (b) analysis relating to the recent study referred to in the answer; whether the study was peer reviewed, and, if so, by whom.

This data is publically available on the NHS NSS Freedom of Information page, direct link below:

http://www.nhsnss.org/supplementary_pages/foi_detail.php?discref=482260

These are crude rates which have not been adjusted to take account of some of those factors known to affect the underlying risk of mortality. Also the data at specialty level is variable due to small denominators, particularly at the weekend. Therefore the assumption that mortality is higher for patients admitted at the weekend is not backed up by these statistics.

Question reference: S4W-20225

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff who have been made redundant by the NHS in each year May 2007 have been subsequently re-employed by the service on a (a) permanent and (b) fixed-term contract basis.

Question reference: S4W-20213

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4O-03002 by Alex Neil on 12 March 2014 (Official Report, c. 28810), whether the cabinet secretary is aware of the study, Weekend admissions as an independent predictor of mortality: an analysis of Scottish hospital admissions, by Handel, Patel, Skingsley, Bramley, Sobieski and Ramagopalan and what his position is on its findings.

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) study paper ‘Weekend admissions as an independent predictor of mortality BMJ 2012’ highlights a reduction in mortality over the course of the study, which ran from 1999 to 2009 with the cause for any apparent increase in mortality being an area of debate. Admissions over the weekend comprise a more unwell population of patients, some of whom suffer a higher rate of mortality regardless of other factors that may apply exclusively to the weekend. This study goes on to say ‘it is clearly critical to understand the precise cause of this excess mortality before measures can be put in place to mitigate the effect of weekend admissions on survival’.

As part of our drive to ensure that patients receive the same high quality care 24 hours a day, seven days a week, a task force whose membership includes NHSScotland service providers, clinicians and partnership colleagues will meet for the first time in April 2014 to drive forward focused improvements in the services available out of hours, particularly at the weekend. We want to accelerate the pace of change, by targeting enhanced weekend and out of hours services support to the areas that will deliver the biggest benefits for patients.

Question reference: S4W-20217

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the supplementary to question S4O-03002 by Alex Neil on 12 March 2014 (Official Report, c. 28811), how it defines "a systemic problem at weekends with mortality rates in Scottish hospitals".

A systemic problem can be defined as an intrinsic or series of problems affecting mortality in Scottish hospitals. Hospital standardised mortality ratios data currently submitted by NHS boards in Scotland does not indicate that this is the case but we will continue to monitor the situation. This will ensure our ambition of delivering safe and reliable care for every patient, every time, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

Question reference: S4W-20218

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4O-03002 by Alex Neil on 12 March 2014 (Official Report, c. 28811), what evidence it has other than the "recent study" mentioned in the answer to suggest that there is no such weekend effect in hospitals in Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-20212 on 26 March 2014. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The study referred to was analysis of official hospital standardised mortality ratios data submitted by NHS boards in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-19989

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 20 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to questions S4W-19550, S4W-19551, S4W-19557, S4W-19559 and S4W-19560 by Alasdair Allan on 28 February 2014, what involvement ministers have had in approving the SQA’s new exam appeals system.

Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1996, responsibility for setting and assessing qualifications in Scotland lies with the Scottish Qualifications Authority. As such, ministers were not involved in the design of the new results services which was the result of extensive consultation, with wide-spread agreement that new arrangements should be put in place to better serve the interests of both candidates and teachers.

Ministers were consulted on the timetable for the introduction of the new system and approved this in November 2011 following due consideration.

Question reference: S4O-03053

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 March 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many SQA academic appeals were submitted in 2013 and how many were upheld.

Question reference: S4O-03002

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether there is a difference in mortality and readmission rates in hospitals at the weekend compared to weekdays.