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: S5W-16570

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 16 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported concerns that the new GP contract does not make adequate provision for GP practices with a significant number of patients who might require interpreters or lengthier appointments because they are non-native English speakers.

It is primarily for NHS Boards to co-ordinate interpreting and translation services that best meet the needs of their local populations. The new contract requires GPs, who are responsible for setting appointment lengths, to engage through their clusters with Health and Social Care Partnerships in local service planning to ensure the primary care team is focused on local population needs.

We are investing £23 million to support the new Scottish Workload Formula which ensures a better match between resources and population need.

Question reference: S5W-16339

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that, due to capacity issues, people in Whitburn are experiencing difficulties in getting appointments at Whitburn Health Centre, and what discussions it has had with NHS Lothian regarding this.

The GP Practice at Whitburn Health Centre are operating fully without any restrictions. The Practice have 8 GP partners and are currently training more of their nursing staff to take on advanced clinical roles. Whilst there can be delays in getting appointments if patients will only see a specific GP there are currently both pre-bookable and on- the-day appointments available. Since the beginning of the year the Practice have registered 291 new patients, have launched a Healthy Lifestyle Clinic and are in the process of enhancing their current service provisions.

Question reference: S5W-16340

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to the reported concerns raised by residents in the area regarding the impact of the closure of the Stoneyburn Health Centre GP service in West Lothian, and what discussions it has had with NHS Lothian about this.

The West Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) is planning on consolidating GP services for all patients registered at Breich Valley Medical Practice to the Fauldhouse Partnership Centre site as of 1 June 2018 and to re-advertise the practice on this basis. Applicants would be offered the option of using the Stoneyburn branch for medical provision if they wished.

Additional support will continue in the form of the specially trained Paramedics to support home visits and GP Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioners. Community services will continue to be provided in Stoneyburn and housebound patients will receive exactly the same service as they do at the moment.

A letter has gone out last week to the whole practice population to advise them of the situation and the HSCP are continuing to work with the Practice to enable a smooth transition.

Our ambition is to increase the number of GPs by at least 800 over ten years to ensure a sustainable service that meets increasing demand.

Question reference: S5W-16179

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-02519 by Shona Robison on 23 September 2016, how many outpatients did not attend NHS appointments in each year since 2016.

Information on patients who did not attend an outpatient appointments is collected only for a first outpatient consultation with consultant or dental led clinics. The following table provides information on the number of new appointments and the number of patients who did not attend first outpatient consultation for 2016 and 2017.

It is every patient's responsibility to keep their NHS appointment and it is important that they let the NHS know when they cannot attend. However, we also recognise that the NHS has to be flexible in helping make appointments convenient to patients. The Scottish Government is committed to supporting health boards implement policies to reduce missed appointments such as providing reminder services through text, emails and social media. This will allow reminder services to be tailored to patients who are most likely not to attend.

Year	New Appointments	Did Not Attend	DNA Rate
2016	1,639,289	158,923	10.0%
2017 P	1,584,892	147,465	9.%

Source ISD Scotland SMR00

p Provisional

Question reference: S5W-12577

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been admitted into acute NHS settings from care homes in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Apologies for the delay in my response.

The requested information is not available centrally. NHS hospital data submitted centrally does contain information on where patients are admitted to acute NHS settings from. However, it is not possible to explicitly identify all patients who are admitted from care homes. There are a number of reasons for this, including the recording of admissions from care home admissions as “admissions from private residences” or using the “no additional detail” code if the information on the admission location is not known. ISD will follow up these specific issues with NHS Boards to identify potential resolutions, although the longer term solution may be to use record linkage to link individual care home records to hospital admission data to give a more accurate picture of where patients have been admitted from.

Question reference: S5W-16178

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many opioids have been prescribed by (a) GPs and (b) hospitals in each year since 1999, broken down by type of opioid.

The Dispenser Payments and Prescription Cost Analysis report provides, on annual basis, information on the volume of drugs prescribed in the community, including opioid analgesics and for the treatment of opioid dependency.

The report is published on the National Services Scotland Information Services Division website:-

www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Prescribing-and-Medicines/Community-Dispensing/Dispenser-Remuneration/

The information requested in part b) of the question is not available in a format which can be aggregated by substance or therapeutic group.

Question reference: S5W-16223

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government which drugs are available through the NHS in England but not in Scotland, and vice-versa.

Medicines that have been approved for use in Scotland and not England:

Bevacizumab (Avastin)
Fulvestrant (Faslodex)
Regorafenib (Strivarga)
Nusinersen (Spinraza)

The Scottish Medicines Consortium published advice on 7 th May 2018 which accepted both Regorafenib (Strivarga) and Nusinersen (Spinraza) for use by the NHS in Scotland.

The first three medicines are used to treat certain indications in ovarian, breast and liver cancer respectively. Nusinersen (Spinraza) has been accepted for restricted use in type 1 spinal muscular atrophy.

Medicines that have been approved for use in England and not Scotland:

Cabozantinib (Cometriq)
Pertuzumab (Perjeta)
Atezolizumab (Tecentriq)
Obinutuzumab (Gazyvaro)
Eculizumab (Soliris)
Etelcalcetide (Parsabiv)
Elosulfase alfa (Ataluren)

The first five medicines are used to treat certain indications in thyroid, skin, breast, bladder and lymphatic cancers respectively. The remaining medicines are used in the treatment of kidney disease, a rare metabolic disorder and Duchenne muscular dystrophy respectively.

In the case of Perjeta, my officials most recently met with the manufacturer, Roche, on 4 May. Roche has also held discussions with NHS NSS National Procurement and I expect that dialogue to continue in order that Roche can bring forward a new submission to the Scottish Medicines Consortium for their consideration.

Question reference: S5W-16158

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that, based on the NHS Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) formula, NHS Lothian is predicting a £31 million shortfall in funding; what contingency measures the board is considering to meet this, and whether ministers plan to review the NRAC formula.

NHS Lothian have clarified in a press release that they are not predicting a £31 million shortfall in funding. As with all NHS Boards, we are continuing to work with NHS Lothian to ensure public money is being used effectively to deliver better services, better care and better value. We expect NHS Lothian to continue to reform their elective services to improve waiting times and outcomes for patients.

The National Access Collaborative is supporting NHS Boards in that respect and, in 2018-19, NHS Lothian will also receive a share of £175 million to support reform, along with a resource budget uplift of 2.1% (£28.9 million) – the highest percentage uplift of any Territorial Board. This uplift includes a £8.6 million share of additional NRAC parity funding and takes the Board’s annual resource budget to £1,384 million and within 0.8% of NRAC parity.

The NRAC formula remains the most objective way to ensure funding equity and is reviewed and updated on an annual basis.

Question reference: S5O-02093

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 May 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that the planning system supports the development of infrastructure in areas with a growing population.

Question reference: S5W-16303

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of pupils with additional support needs (ASN) there were in each Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation decile in each of the last five years.

a) Number of pupils with additional support needs (ASN) by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), 2013-2017

SIMD Decile	Year
SIMD Decile	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
1 = Most Deprived	21,896	22,609	23,462	26,132	27,197
2	16,019	16,870	18,314	22,802	24,232
3	13,394	14,550	16,107	19,075	20,923
4	13,992	14,932	16,316	17,816	19,107
5	12,758	13,615	14,778	16,143	17,554
6	11,934	12,981	14,562	15,294	16,348
7	12,090	13,247	15,000	15,035	16,399
8	11,371	12,228	13,590	14,087	15,484
9	9,648	10,580	11,547	13,286	14,504
10 = Least Deprived	7,364	7,808	8,497	10,372	11,352
Unknown	895	887	808	259	256

Unknown represents pupils where postcode data was not available for assigning to a datazone

b) Percentage of pupils with additional support needs (ASN) by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), 2013-2017

SIMD Decile	Year
SIMD Decile	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
1 = Most Deprived	16.67	16.11	15.34	15.34	14.83
2	12.19	12.02	11.97	13.39	13.22
3	10.20	10.37	10.53	11.20	11.41
4	10.65	10.64	10.67	10.46	10.42
5	9.71	9.70	9.66	9.48	9.57
6	9.08	9.25	9.52	8.98	8.92
7	9.20	9.44	9.81	8.83	8.94
8	8.66	8.72	8.88	8.27	8.44
9	7.34	7.54	7.55	7.80	7.91
10 = Least Deprived	5.61	5.56	5.55	6.09	6.19
Unknown	0.68	0.63	0.53	0.15	0.14

Unknown represents pupils where postcode data was not available for assigning to a datazone