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-14100

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients with terminal conditions have not had a Patient Care Plan in each year for which information is available, broken down by NHS board, and what advice it provides to GPs regarding these plans.

This information is not centrally held.

Our Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative and End of Life Care, which was published in December 2015, emphasised the importance of people having care plans in place to enable those who would benefit from palliative and end of life care to get access to it.

The Scottish Government wrote to all GP services in September 2017 to note the importance and value of fully completing Key Information Summaries to support person centred anticipatory care planning.

Question reference: S5W-14058

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13734 by Shona Robison on 18 January 2018, in light of reports that NHS Lothian estimates that it requires £26 million to improve facilities, whether it will provide a breakdown of how the cabinet secretary calculated it as being £15 million.

As previously stated, the Scottish Government is planning on allocating additional funds to support these plans and the current estimate is that NHS Lothian will require an additional £15 million to deliver this project. This estimate is based on advice received direct from NHS Lothian, following an extensive process to prioritise service requirements against available capital funding. The Scottish Government will continue to engage direct with NHS Lothian and additional funding assumptions will be updated as their plans develop.

Question reference: S5W-14086

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many hospitals in each NHS board have been in crisis bed-management mode in each month since April 2007.

Crisis bed-management mode is not a term that the Scottish Government recognises. Each hospital site have a management system in place for capacity and would relate this to escalation procedures as required. We have issued guidance on improving management of whole system capacity through improved communication in morning safety flow huddles.

Weekly official statistics are published on emergency department activity and performance in Scotland, which is a good whole system marker. These reports are available on the Information Services Division (ISD) website: http://www.isdscotland.org/Publications/index.asp

In partnership with Health Boards and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the Scottish Government produced emergency department capacity management guidance through the 6 Essential Actions programme which offers a framework of escalation to proactively manage and prevent crowding in Emergency Departments and/or assessment areas.

Question reference: S5W-14092

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many social care employees from the EU are employed by each local authority, also broken down by what percentage of staff this represents.

Question reference: S5W-13550

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason ISD Scotland statistics published on 19 December 2017 suggest that there has been decline in A&E waiting time performance (a) in NHS Lothian and (b) at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and what action it is taking to ensure that the waiting time target is met.

In the week ending 10 December 2017 NHS Lothian experienced a range of challenges that impacted on A&E performance across the Board, including the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh. For instance the level of attendances increased across the Board, in fact during the week ending 10 December the level of attendances were amongst the highest seen since weekly reporting began almost three years ago. In the week ending 17 December the board saw its highest level in any one week.

The Scottish Government is working closely with the local teams across NHS Lothian, including partnerships, to support improvements in relation to A&E waiting time performance and the reduction of delayed discharges. We are working with the hospital to enhance existing processes at the front door to support the timely flow of patients through the A&E department and additional capacity has been opened in community hospitals to support discharges. We will continue to work with the Board to support the required improvements.

Question reference: S5W-13717

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13253 by Shona Robison on 8 January 2017, what its position is on reported concerns that, by referring to St John's Hospital only and not other A&E departments in NHS Lothian, the news release of 17 November 2017, Waiting Times at NHS Lothian, lacked transparency by giving the impression that only issues at St John's Hospital were under review.

I will refer the member back to my response on 8 January. But for absolute clarity, I instructed NHS Lothian to carry out a full investigation across the three acute hospitals, despite the allegation being made against St Johns hospital. The news release, which I cleared, was in response to the news release issued on 17 November by NHS Lothian in relation to reporting practices surrounding waiting times targets at St Johns hospital.

Question reference: S5W-14098

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many parking spaces have been made available for medical professionals at each NHS hospital site in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S5W-14102

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 1 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people outwith the target group have been treated for hepatitis C in each year for which information has been available.

In 2016-17, 42 % of people treated for hepatitis C (HCV) had no liver disease or mild liver disease and so were outwith the priority group of those with moderate to severe liver disease. For the first 6 months of 2017-18 the latest data indicates that 54% of people treated for hepatitis C had no liver disease or mild liver disease.

The principles developed by the HCV Treatment and Therapies Sub-Group of the National Sexual Health and Bloodborne Virus Advisory Committee state that patients should have an expectation that the likelihood of cure as a result of their initial treatment is at least 90% and this should be achieved with minimal possible side effects. All infected people are eligible for treatment regardless of disease progression, but the recommended treatment may vary dependent on HCV genotype and individual circumstances.

Question reference: S5W-14090

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has carried out of NHS staff uniforms being cleaned by the NHS and not by staff at home.

In line with the NHSScotland National Uniform Policy hospital/facility laundries should be used to launder uniforms where they are available. Information is not held centrally in relation to the number of uniforms routinely laundered by staff at home.

Where hospital laundry facilities are not available, used uniforms should be laundered at home in accordance with the Home Laundering Guidelines, issued alongside the National Uniform Policy. There is no evidence to suggest that home laundering is a less effective method of laundering used uniform.

Question reference: S5W-14071

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 1 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the national treatment target numbers are for hepatitis C for each of the next three years.

The new annual national targets for hepatitis C (HCV) treatment initiations are at least 2000 for 2018-19, 2500 for 2019-20, 3000 for 2020-21 and 3000 for each subsequent year. These are all minimum targets.

The Scottish Government is committed to the elimination of hepatitis C as a public health concern. The updated recommendations of the HCV Treatment and Therapies Sub-Group of the National Sexual Health and Bloodborne Virus Advisory Committee will form the basis of an elimination plan, which will be published later this year.