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-12995

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2013
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Alex Neil on 8 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Executive what funds it is making available to NHS boards for 2013-14.

Territorial Boards have been given a general allocation increase of £256 million for 2013-14, an overall average increase over the equivalent 2012-13 allocation of 3.3%.

Special boards allocations have increased by 1.0%. In addition, differential efficiency savings have been allocated to the elements of special boards budgets not providing direct patient care.

Details of Boards revenue resource and capital allocations for 2013-14 are provided in the following tables:

Revenue Resource

Territorial Boards

2013-14

Initial

Allocation

Funding

Uplift

£ million

Ayrshire and Arran	603.4	2.8%
Borders	175.4	2.8%
Dumfries and Galloway	253.3	2.8%
Fife	539.5	3.6%
Forth Valley	434.2	3.8%
Grampian	743.8	4.2%
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	1,995.1	2.8%
Highland	509.8	2.8%
Lanarkshire	865.1	3.2%
Lothian	1,141.2	4.4%
Orkney	34.3	4.6%
Shetland	38.7	2.8%
Tayside	629.1	2.9%
Western Isles	60.7	2.8%
	8,023.6	3.3%

Special Boards
National Waiting Times Centre	44.7	1.0%
Scottish Ambulance Service	207.6	1.0%
National Services Scotland	281.7	-0.4%
Healthcare Improvement Scotland	15.9	-4.2%
The State Hospital	33.6	1.0%
NHS 24	61.5	1.0%
NHS Education for Scotland	390.4	0.2%
NHS Health Scotland	18.5	-4.2%
	1,053.9	0.2%
Totals	9,077.5	2.9%

Capital Resource 2013-14 – Initial Gross Allocation £ million

Territorial Boards
Ayrshire and Arran	11.4
Borders	3.4
Dumfries and Galloway	6.5
Fife	21.1
Forth Valley	6.4
Grampian	34.3
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	293.6
Highland	15.5
Lanarkshire	14.8
Lothian	57.6
Orkney	1.4
Shetland	3.1
Tayside	15.0
Western Isles	1.3
Total	485.4

Special Boards

National Waiting Times Centre	4.8
Scottish Ambulance Service	13.5
National Services Scotland	3.8
Healthcare Improvement Scotland	0.2
The State Hospital	0.3
NHS 24	0.3
NHS Health Scotland	0.7
Total	23.6
Retained Centrally	16.9
Totals	525.9

Question reference: S4F-01180

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 February 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 February 2013

To ask the First Minister what progress the Scottish Government has made on tackling hospital acquired infections.

Question reference: S4T-00197

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 January 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how value-based pricing will impact on the availability of orphan and ultra-orphan medicines such as Kalydeco.

Question reference: S4O-01669

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it is giving to the public health implications of the recently published Energy Action Scotland discussion paper, The Relationship Between Fuel Poverty and Health.

Question reference: S4W-10632

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 12 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government which long-term conditions did not provide exemption from prescription fees prior to their abolition in April 2011 and how many people had such conditions at that time.

Prior to abolition of prescription charges in 2011, the list of conditions which entitled people to free prescriptions were:

Hypoparathyroidism

Hypoadrenalism (for which specific substitution therapy is essential)

Diabetes insipidus and other forms of hypopituitarism

Diabetes Mellitus (except where treatment is by diet alone)

Myasthenia Gravis

Myxoedema ( that is, Hypothyroidism requiring thyroid hormone replacement)

Epilepsy (requiring continuous anti-convulsive therapy)

A permanent Fistula requiring continuous surgical dressing or requiring an appliance ( also referred to as a stoma)

A continuing physical disability which prevents the patient from leaving a residence without the help of another person.

We do not have an exhaustive list of those long-term conditions which did not entitle people to free prescriptions, and therefore cannot determine the number of people with these conditions. However, such a list would be extensive, and would include conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease, Asthma, Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, HIV, and COPD, amongst others.

Simply extending the list of conditions would have been likely to leave groups of patients frustrated, either due to omissions or as the result of the emergence of new conditions. The fairest solution was to abolish prescription charges for all people in Scotland, whatever their condition.

Question reference: S4O-01421

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve the energy efficiency of the NHS estate.

Question reference: S4T-00063

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 October 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what representations it has received from the European Commission regarding minimum unit pricing for alcohol.

Question reference: S4W-09622

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support is offered to cancer care patients for travel arrangements to appointments.

The patients’ travelling expenses scheme allows for the reimbursement or partial reimbursement, of travel costs for eligible patients, and where medically necessary escorts, attending hospital for treatment.

Eligible patients are those who are in receipt of certain DWP benefits or credits such as income support, or are named on a valid NHS tax credit exemption certificate, can be eligible for reimbursement (or partial reimbursement) for the cost of their travel to the hospital.

Those that are not in receipt of DWP benefits, but are otherwise assessed as being on low income by the NHS Business Services Authority, can also be eligible under the scheme.

Question reference: S4W-09620

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what advice is given to patients requiring lengthy travel to cancer care appointments.

Our Better Cancer Care: An Action Plan (October 2008), sets out our commitment to ensure that people with cancer have access to specialist services that are both safe and sustainable, and provided as locally as possible. Where radiotherapy is required as part of an individual’s treatment this can only be provided in one of Scotland’s five cancer centres. This is due to the stringent safety measures required to support the delivery of radiotherapy services. As such treatment can only be provided in specially designed and staffed facilities.

Where patients are required to travel for treatment we would expect advice to be provided tailored to their specific needs by the team responsible for their care.

We expect this to include relevant clinical advice, information on financial support, and signposting to travel services for those patients who need additional travel assistance.

Question reference: S4W-09621

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what training is given to GPs advising cancer care patients on travel arrangements for appointments.

We expect General Practitioners to refer patients with cancer to relevant specialists according to locally agreed pathways in their health board areas. Each health board may have different referral pathways and associated requirements to suit their local circumstances, which the general practitioners should follow. It is therefore for individual health boards to train general practitioners on the referral pathways in their area, for conditions which require specialist investigations, opinions and management, including cancer.

Where this results in lengthy travel for the patient, we expect general practitioners as part of the team responsible for their care, to be aware of and able to provide relevant clinical advice, information on financial support, and where necessary signposting to travel services for those patients who need additional travel assistance when undertaking lengthy travel for treatment.