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-24312

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 17 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government which NHS boards are using the services of Medinet to reduce waiting lists and times.

Question reference: S4W-24309

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 17 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support it provides to third sector organisations that support audiology services in Ayrshire.

Scottish Government funding totalling some £2 million from 2013-15 has been allocated equitably to local partnerships across Scotland charged with the implementation of the National Sensory Impairment Strategy.

The Ayrshire and Arran Local Partnership will receive £134,000 over the two years of the sensory impairment strategy implementation and a proportion of that funding has been used to second a third sector employee to the partnership to drive implementation of the locality plan.

Question reference: S4W-24314

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 17 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients in each NHS board have been treated by Medinet staff in each of the last four years.

Question reference: S4W-23577

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the figures from NHS Ayrshire and Arran on worsening ambulance response times.

Both the Scottish Government and the Scottish Ambulance Service are committed to driving continuous improvement in the care provided to patients. A range of annually agreed targets are the subject of on-going performance management, including the Ministerial Annual Review meeting which is held in public.

The average Category A response time in 2013-14 in Ayrshire and Arran was 73.1% in 8 minutes. The average Category A response time from April 2014 to November 2014 is 73.9% in 8 minutes.

The average response time to all emergency incidents in Ayrshire and Arran in 2013-14 was 8 minutes 35 seconds. The average response time for April to November 2014 is 9 minutes and 4 seconds.

The slight improvement to date in response times for Category A, life-threatening calls indicates that the Service is focused on responding to those patients most in need, however, the Scottish Government continues to work with the service in order that performance can be improved and sustained on a consistent basis.

Question reference: S4W-23567

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) injections to treat bladder cancer are readily available to all NHS boards.

Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) injections to treat bladder cancer are used in NHS Scotland and advice on using BCG is contained in the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guideline number 85 – Management of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. A copy of the guideline can be found using the following link:

http://www.sign.ac.uk/pdf/sign85.pdf?UNLID=79427299920141126171040

We are aware that there are temporary supply issues affecting BCG bladder installation products in the UK. This is due to issues being encountered by manufacturers and we are in regular contact with the Department of Health who have responsibility for medicine supply under the terms of the Scotland Act 1998.

Question reference: S4W-23466

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to concerns that the single room design of the new South Glasgow University Hospital may have a detrimental impact on patient safety at night.

Single room accommodation provides a quiet, healing environment for patients. Results from the Better Together patient experience survey have shown that in the current ward areas (multi-bedded rooms) patients are often disturbed at night by noises staff make, noises from equipment, noises in the environment and noises other patients make.

In the design phase work was undertaken with patient groups, carers etc. to determine how the design could be influenced and adapted to meet their aspirations, and their feedback was used by the design team. The design of the wards in the new South Glasgow University Hospital maximises observation and recent mock-up ward sessions have provided nurses with reassurance about the layout.

Concerns about single room provision were raised in 2013 by GPs and were fully addressed by highlighting that the design of wards promotes good patient observation, and conversely ensures that patients can see staff. Users undertook benchmarking site visits across the UK, including the Department of Health single room pilot and the Bevan Ward at Hillingdon.

As a direct result, the wards at the New South Glasgow University Hospital have been designed with interlocking ensuites which allows large vision panels into the ward corridor, allowing nursing and other staff good visibility of the patient, and the patient good sight of staff. There are also vision panels in each of the bedroom doors further enhancing visibility.

Intentional rounding, as part of our nursing model of care, is a structured process where nurses on the ward carry out regular checks with individual patients throughout the 24 hour period. The more unwell the patient the more frequent these checks occur. During these intentional rounding checks nursing staff carry out scheduled care or simply observe their patients. What is critical to this approach to care is that it brings with it the confidence of staff and patients alike.

Further the model of nursing care used is also supported by a number of staff ‘touchdown’ spaces throughout the ward. This means instead of returning to a central staff base for administration/handovers staff will use a local touchdown space as their support, thereby remaining closer to the patient.

There are numerous studies that document that single rooms reduce noise, improve lighting, provide better ventilation, better ergonomic designs and improved layout which can help reduce errors, reduce stress, improve sleep, reduce pain and improve other outcomes.

Question reference: S4T-00763

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 August 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 August 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what precautions it is taking to reduce the threat of the Ebola virus.

Question reference: S4W-20418

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS boards provide family-based therapy for the treatment of eating disorders and what plans it has to boost this provision.

The information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of involving families and carers in the therapeutic process, particularly in the treatment of young people living with eating disorder.

In partnership with NHS Education for Scotland, we have published the ‘matrix’ guide to planning and delivering evidence-based psychological therapies within NHS boards in Scotland. This provides a summary of the information on the current evidence base for various therapeutic approaches, a template to aid in the identification of key gaps in service, and advice on governance issues. In respect of eating disorder, the matrix recognises there is evidence of benefit for manualised family therapy, for example, the Maudsley model.

The Scottish Government expects individual NHS boards to work with their partners to plan and deliver person centred, safe and effective services and treatments for eating disorder from the resources allocated to them by the Scottish Government. We will ensure faster access to evidence based psychological therapies through delivery of the 18 week referral to treatment target, effective from December 2014.

Question reference: S4O-02948

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to tackle the supply and use of new psychoactive substances.

Question reference: S4O-02660

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Quality Meat Scotland, the National Farmers Union and others about the sufficiency of primary product to meet the growing worldwide demand for Scottish food and drink.