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-05681

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the findings of the King’s Fund report, Long-term conditions and mental health: The cost of co-morbidities, what assessment it has made of NHS spend on mental health problems in people with long-term conditions.

The Scottish Government sets national direction of policy on mental health and provides funding to agencies, including NHS boards and local authorities, to support implementation of policy. The management of local actions in implementing national policy, and decisions on local spending priorities are the responsibility of relevant local agencies.

People with a mental health problem and long-term condition will benefit from the record investment and the range of improvements being delivered as part of the Scottish Government’s wider health and mental health improvement programmes, including the Healthcare Quality Strategy.

The Scottish Government provided £548,000 funding to 2011 for the three year Living Better partnership project led by RCGP Scotland to help local primary care services improve detection and diagnosis of mental health problems in people living with long term conditions such as diabetes, chronic heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (www.livingbetter-scotland.org.uk).

We are also currently considering consultation responses on the future direction of our mental health strategy to 2015. The consultation document recognised the importance of delivering key outcomes such as ensuring mental health services work well with, and are integrated in, other services and settings, and that people and communities act to protect and promote their mental health to reduce the likelihood that they will become unwell. Detailed plans will be set out in the final strategy which will be published in the spring.

Question reference: S4O-00765

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects construction work to commence on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route.

Question reference: S4W-05500

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered introducing a liver screening test across the country.

Question reference: S4W-05352

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 16 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many gastric (a) bypass and (b) band operations were carried out in 2010-11.

The following table shows information on the number of gastric band and gastric bypass operations undertaken, where a main diagnosis of obesity has also been recorded, by NHS board of residence in 2010-11.

NHS Board of Residence

Financial Year 2010-11

Gastric Band

operations

Gastric Bypass

operations

Ayrshire and Arran	29	10
Borders	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	6	0
Fife	1	2
Forth Valley	1	0
Grampian*	1	17
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	31	5
Highland	5	1
Lanarkshire*	12	2
Lothian	4	31
Orkney	0	0
Shetland	0	0
Tayside	6	1
Western Isles	0	0

Source: ISD Scotland SMR01.

Note:*Data for NHS Scotland for 2010-11 are estimated to be only 97% complete. NHS Grampian and NHS Lanarkshire data are estimated to be 91% and 96% complete respectively. This is mainly due to the implementation of a new IT patient management system, which has resulted in data submission backlogs for this time period. The NHS boards are working to resolve these submission issues.

Question reference: S4W-05678

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 16 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people with PIP breast implants have sought advice regarding their implants from each NHS board.

Question reference: S4W-05353

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to encourage women under 25 (a) in the Lothian area and (b) across Scotland to take smear tests.

In 2009, the Breast and Cervical Screening National Advisory Group commissioned NHS Health Scotland to undertake research into the reasons for non-uptake of the cervical screening invitation. Following this research, a new range of targeted information leaflets was produced in August 2010. In addition to the leaflet issued with each women’s invitation to screening, a new leaflet has been produced which gives more specific information for young women who are attending screening for the first time.

These leaflets can be accessed via NHS Health Scotland’s website at: http://www.healthscotland.com/topics/health-topics/screening/cervical.aspx.

NHS Lothian, as with all NHS boards, promotes these leaflets in healthcare and community settings, including GP surgeries, to encourage women to find out more about the screening test.

Question reference: S4W-05358

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) people and (b) hospital patients have contracted norovirus in the last three years, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S4W-05350

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what support it can provide to young people with cancer in light of the Macmillan Cancer Support survey finding that 14% of young Scots thought they had no one to talk to when faced with a serious problem.

Ensuring people have the appropriate support for cancer is important at any age, but it can be particularly challenging for young people when they or a loved one are diagnosed with cancer. We are aware that there are a number of organisations who offer a very valuable service in supporting people regardless of their age such as MacMillan Cancer Support.

However, it’s also important that young people know they can turn to their family and friends when they need them, and we will consider these findings as part of our work in relation to transforming care.

Question reference: S4W-05357

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered setting up a review into hygiene practices in hospitals to deal with the impact of norovirus.

Cleaning in hospitals is regularly assessed by Health Facilities Scotland’s quarterly NHSScotland National Cleaning Compliance Report, and hand hygiene by Health Protection Scotland’s bi-monthly National Hand Hygiene Compliance with Hand Hygiene Audit Report, both of which demonstrate high levels of compliance. Also, Health Protection Scotland revised and reissued their document Norovirus Outbreak Preparedness, Control Measures & Practical Considerations for Optimal Patient Safety and Service Continuation in Hospitals on 30 September 2011. This provides extensive guidance to NHS boards to help prevent outbreaks of norovirus. Additionally, the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate was established in April 2009 to undertake at least one announced and one unannounced inspection to all acute hospitals across NHSScotland every three years to provide public assurance that effective hygiene practices and infection control policies are being rigorously applied.

Question reference: S4W-05354

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive on what grounds it decided to reduce the student intake for nursing and midwifery from 2,700 in 2011-12 to 2,430 for 2012-13.

The reduced student intake for nursing and midwifery takes account of NHS boards’ workforce plans and projections and reflects changing patterns of care and service delivery, as well as improvements in student attrition which have resulted in the number of students in training reaching an all-time high of 10,384.

The 2012-13 intake sets a balance between ensuring the right number of nurses and midwives for the future while minimising the risk of oversupply and graduate unemployment.