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: S5O-02373

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 September 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to the reported increase in incidents of antisocial behaviour.

Question reference: S5W-17994

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of waiting times in NHS Grampian.

Waiting times in NHS Grampian are very much below the level I require, with patients experiencing exceptionally long waits to be seen and treated in a number of specialties. The Board have experienced a number of issues, particulaly around staffing of theatre nursing posts. The Board are taking a number of actions to improve this situation including discussing with other Boards their methodology regarding training programmes and utilising these to reduce the Board's current timeline of 2 years to around 6 months which would ensure optimum utilisation of available capacity.

2. NHS Grampian will receive £4,963,000 from their NRAC share of the £50m provided to Boards in 2018-19. 50% of this funding has been released in June to Boards with the remaining 50% going out in October. This funding will support the delivery of additional Outpatients, Diagnostics and Treatment activity. For example this includes additional activity in

pain management and neurosurgery service
cardiology OP clinics undertaken by the Independent Sector
weekend workforce through the Aberdeen Clinic at Dr Grays Hospital
Uurology weekend operating
see and Treat in Oral Maxi-facia services
Fernbrae Hospital - Hire of Theatre and associated costs
use of Independent Medical Theatre Staff to support theatre capacity at ARI, Woodend and Dr Grays Hospital
additional Medical Consultants in General Surgery, Rheumatology, Gynaecology and Anaesthetics

I will be raising the issue of performance with the Chairs of all Boards at their next meeting.

Question reference: S5W-17998

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 30 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what communications it has had with NHS Grampian regarding the downgrading of maternity services at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin.

There has been on-going engagement, including meetings with NHS Grampian regarding the delivery of maternity services at Dr Gray’s. We have been clear with NHS Grampian that all possible options must be explored to continue to provide a safe, sustainable service for mothers and babies in Dr Gray’s.

I visited the hospital on 3 August, meeting with staff from Dr Gray’s Hospital, NHS Grampian, Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) and the Keep MUM group to discuss the changes to maternity and paediatric services. Following those meetings I have written to the acting Chief Executive of NHS Grampian formally requesting submission of a detailed plan of how NHS Grampian intends to restore a full obstetric service to Dr Gray’s Hospital, with paediatric services in support. I have asked for this plan by 17 August. The plan should include a detailed timeline and milestones and be co-produced with relevant staff at Dr Gray’s, the Scottish Ambulance Service and members of the public, including KeepMUM. I have published my letter to NHS Grampian in SPICe [Ref. is BIB 59956]. The plan has now been received but requires further improvement. My officials are working with NHS Grampian on this and a revised plan is expected shortly.

Question reference: S5W-17993

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 27 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure that (a) current and (b) future vacancies for chief executives in NHS boards are filled in a reasonable timeframe.

The Scottish Government supports NHS Scotland health boards in their efforts to ensure that they have the right staff in place to meet the healthcare needs of the local population. Nevertheless, it remains the responsibility of individual health board to carry out recruitment to their executive cohort in their role as employer. In doing so, boards will determine timeframes for appointment; we expect all boards to recruit timeously.

NHS Scotland health boards are presently planning recruitment to chief executive posts in NHS Highland, NHS Tayside and NHS Orkney. The Scottish Government is aware that indicative interview dates for the NHS Highland and NHS Tayside posts have been set for 17 and 18 October, and interviews are also planned for 24 October for the NHS Orkney post. The Golden Jubilee Foundation, has already commenced advertising for a new chief executive, following the decision of the incumbent to retire later this year. Finally, NHS Grampian are expected to begin recruitment for a new chief executive in the new year, with Prof. Amanda Croft currently filling the role on an interim basis.

Question reference: S5W-17995

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 21 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the additional cost has been for the Scottish Ambulance Service to cover any recent increases in inter-hospital transfers from Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin.

Question reference: S5W-17991

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on private sector services to increase capacity in each NHS board in the last five years, in line with the methodology used in the Auditor General for Scotland’s report, NHS in Scotland 2015.

NHS Boards report private sector spending in their annual accounts and figures for the five years to 2016-17 are set out in the following table. Figures for 2017-18 will be available after the Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts for 2017-18 have been signed off by the Auditor General for Scotland and laid in the Scottish Parliament. We expect this to be completed by the end of September.

NHS Boards make limited use of the independent and private sector for health care services and in 2016-17 private sector spend comprised 0.6% of total Health resource spending and decreased by £6.3 million compared to 2015-16.

Board/ Year	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Ayrshire & Arran	4,576	4,646	5,681	4,689	3,627
Borders	3,453	3,274	3,457	3,211	3,695
Dumfries & Galloway	6,774	6,109	6,188	4,394	2,556
Fife	5,299	2,736	2,385	2,090	1,994
Forth Valley	4,712	3,983	4,658	3,296	2,346
Grampian	6,331	4,922	6,680	7,886	4,067
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	15,451	13,829	12,494	17,146	20,433
Highland	2,671	3,748	4,855	3,536	4,084
Lanark	7,748	7,607	9,707	10,234	9,243
Lothian	14,840	16,626	17,845	12,192	9,578
Orkney	563	445	416	330	435
Shetland	116	186	243	288	153
Tayside	7,190	7,239	7,324	8,474	8,860
Western Isles	540	547	598	736	939
Territorial total	80,264	75,897	82,531	78,502	72,010
NHS Education for Scotland	3,189	3,197	2,561	3,238	3,444
National Waiting Times Centre	25	36	90	18	51
National total	3,214	3,233	2,651	3,256	3,495
Total	83,478	79,130	85,182	81,758	75,505

Question reference: S5W-17992

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what plans there are to rationalise NHS Grampian’s estate in the future.

The Scottish Government’s “Policy for Property and Asset Management in NHSScotland” [CEL 35 (2010)] requires all NHS Scotland bodies to have a Property and Asset Management Strategy (PAMS). The PAMS sets out how each board will strategically manage its assets to support effective service delivery including planning, acquisition, operation and disposal of assets.

NHS Grampian’s current PAMS is available online from:

http://foi.nhsgrampian.org/globalassets/foidocument/foi-public-documents1---all-documents/item10for01062017AssetManagmentPlan2017.pdf

Question reference: S5W-17990

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 17 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish an assessment of graduate apprenticeships.

Question reference: S5W-17999

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what communications it has had with NHS Grampian regarding the future of the Leanchoil Hospital in Forres.

We have not had any communication with NHS Grampian on the future of Leanchoil Hospital. Moray Integration Joint Board (IJB) is currently conducting a public consultation on reshaping older people’s services in the Forres area. We expect the IJB to ensure that any changes ensure modern, high quality care services that best support people to maintain their wellbeing and independence in their own communities.

Question reference: S5W-17989

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether NHS Orkney and NHS Shetland would be consulted regarding potential mergers of any of the NHS boards for Grampian, Highland and Tayside.