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: S6W-37732

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 30 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the total estimated number of care hours required was, and how many were delivered, in each year since 2018, also broken down by NHS board.

Data on the total number of care hours planned for delivery is not held centrally.

Data on the number of hours of care at home funded by Health and Social Care Partnerships in Scotland is published annually by Public Health Scotland and can be found via the dashboard on following weblink:

Care at Home Statistics for Scotland: Support and services funded by Health and Social Care Partnerships in Scotland 2023/2024 - Care at Home Statistics for Scotland - Publications - Public Health Scotland

Data are available for 2018-19 to 2023-24.

Data showing the number of hours for people assessed but yet to be delivered, and for number of additional hours of care to be delivered to those already receiving a care package is published by Public Health Scotland at local authority level. This can be found via the dashboard on following weblink:

Overview - People requiring a Social Care assessment and Care at Home services - Care at home - Social and community care - Healthcare system - Public Health Scotland

Question reference: S6W-37718

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average waiting time is for patients requiring cataract surgery, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-37713

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of delayed cataract surgery on patient wellbeing, including risks of falls, injuries and social isolation, particularly among older patients.

Question reference: S6W-37715

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the longest recorded waiting time has been for a cataract operation in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) uses the national waiting times datamart to collect electronic patient records covering the waits that patients experience waiting for treatment as an inpatient or day-case under the Treatment Time Guarantee.

This data source can be used routinely to identify the specialty of treatment. However, although the records are designed to collect coded information on the procedure that is planned for the patient, this information is often either incomplete, lacking in essential detail and/or its accuracy cannot be assured. In addition, the procedure(s) that was planned may not always reflect the procedure actually performed after the patient was admitted for treatment. The latter is not captured through the national datamart. Consequently, PHS is not currently able to report accurately on waiting times to this level of detail.

Question reference: S6W-37733

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many delayed discharge incidents from hospital were attributable to a lack of available social care packages, in each of the last five years, also broken down by NHS board.

A delayed discharge occurs when a hospital patient who is clinically ready for discharge from inpatient hospital care continues to occupy a hospital bed beyond the date they are ready for discharge. Information held nationally on delayed discharges can identify the number of people aged 18 and over who were delayed in their discharge from hospital.

People delayed due to a lack of available social care packages can be identified using Delay Reason code 25D – “Awaiting completion of arrangements - in order to live in their own home – awaiting social care support (non-availability of services)”.

Figures from Financial Year 2020-21 to 2024-25 (inclusive) are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Number of people delayed due to Awaiting completion of arrangements in order to live in their own home, awaiting social care support (non-availability of services) in the financial Years 2020-21 to 2024-25 by Health Board.

Health Board	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	1,112	1,530	1,460	1,660	1,652
NHS Borders	173	213	190	178	211
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	148	338	453	512	498
NHS Fife	350	745	471	128	281
NHS Forth Valley	583	761	777	428	451
NHS Grampian	289	383	374	356	391
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	684	1,331	1,622	1,552	1,123
NHS Highland	396	387	406	424	505
NHS Lanarkshire	2,485	2,258	2,539	2,584	2,424
NHS Lothian	1,568	2,044	2,159	2,167	2,226
NHS Orkney	16	26	34	24	37
NHS Shetland	8	37	47	46	61
NHS Tayside	531	786	942	738	750
NHS Western Isles	78	85	68	55	88
Scotland	8,416	10,892	11,507	10,814	10,671

1.The data relate to individuals aged 18 years and over, in the delayed discharges data collection, who were clinically ready for discharge from hospital and experienced a delay reason recorded as due to awaiting completion of arrangements in order to live in their own home, awaiting social care support (non-availability of services).

2.If an individual was delayed in multiple financial years, they will be counted in each financial year they were delayed.

3.The total for Scotland in a year may not match the sum of the people delayed in each Health Board in a year. This is due to some people experienced delays in more than one Health Board during a financial year. A person would count once in each health board they were delayed in and at Scotland level, a person will only be counted once in the financial year.

4.Further information on Delayed Discharges can be found on the Public Health Scotland (PHS) website:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/healthcare-system/secondary-care/delayed-discharges/overview/

Source: Public Health Scotland

Ref IR2025-00417

Question reference: S6W-37717

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients (a) are currently waiting for cataract surgery and (b) have been on a waiting list for cataract surgery in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-37714

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of any national strategies or funding initiatives aimed at increasing the number of cataract surgeries performed.

In January 2022, the Scottish Government commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Delivery to establish the Scottish National Cataract Short Life Working Group to address current challenges in cataract surgery in Scotland.

This work has led to the publication of 'Improving the Delivery of Cataract Surgery in Scotland: a Blueprint for Success' which will support Boards to deliver high quality, high volume, specialist care.

This Blueprint builds on existing work that has already been done by the National Eyecare Workstream to:

Embed recommendations from Health Board Ophthalmology Peer Reviews.
Align with the Royal College of Ophthalmologists guidelines for training lists and high volume service lists.
Acknowledge different models of service delivery from various sites across NHS Scotland.

Cataract Surgery Standards were published by Healthcare Improvement Scotland in December 2023. Cataract surgery standards – Healthcare Improvement Scotland

In 2025/26 we have announced over £200 million to reduce waiting lists and help support reduction of delayed discharge. This will contribute to additional ophthalmology procedures, alongside our National Treatment Centre programme which is delivering cataract surgery in NTC Highland and NHS Golden Jubilee University National Hospital.

Question reference: S6W-37712

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has issued to NHS boards on the maximum recommended waiting times for cataract procedures, and whether NHS boards are meeting those standards.

We know that some patients have waited too long for treatment but we are committed to ensuring patients receive the care they need as quickly as possible and across various specialities we will deliver over 150,000 extra appointments and procedures in the coming year. Surgical procedures, including cataract surgery are subject to the Treatment Time Guarantee.

Whilst PHS data can be used routinely to identify the specialty of treatment, data at a procedure level is unavailable. The records are designed to collect coded information on the procedure that is planned for the patient, however this information is often either incomplete, lacking in essential detail and/or its accuracy cannot be assured. In addition, the procedure(s) that was planned may not always reflect the procedure actually performed after the patient was admitted for treatment. The latter is not captured through the national datamart. Consequently, PHS is not currently able to report accurately on waiting times to this level of detail.

Work is ongoing to support local surgical teams to increase efficiency and consequently the number of patients that can be treated across the cataract surgical pathway, in line with the Royal College of Ophthalmologists’ guidelines.

The Scottish Government commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) to support an increase in surgical throughput across cataract only surgical sessions. CfSD’s clinically-led Cataract Specialty Delivery Groups (SDG) promote multidisciplinary team working, and supports local adoption of service improvement programmes.

This short life working group has supported several new and innovative pathway developments, some of which are now being successfully scaled up in a number of sites across hospital eye services, including: high volume cataract surgery in ring-fenced sessions, and delivering one cataract every 30 mins, as per Royal College of Ophthalmologists’ guidelines. In tandem with this, The National Eyecare Workstream is undertaking clinically led peer reviews which supports new and efficient ways of working and shares best practices across the country across a number of ocular sub-specialties, including cataracts.

Question reference: S6W-37731

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide figures for the vacancy rate within the social care workforce, including average time to fill posts, in each NHS board since 2018.

Responsibility for publishing data and intelligence on the social service sector in Scotland was delegated to the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) in 2001 by Scottish Ministers under the Regulation of Care Scotland Act 2001.

Reports on sector vacancy rates, including breakdowns by local authority and ‘hard to fill posts’, between 2018 and 2023 can be found on SSSC’s website here:

Vacancies reports | Scottish Social Services Workforce Data

Please note SSSC is working to provide more current data to workforce planners and now publishes data on social worker-filled posts and vacancies every six months which can be found here:

Social worker filled posts and vacancies six-monthly survey at June 2024 | Scottish Social Services Workforce Data

Question reference: S6O-04721

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it has introduced in the last year to improve road safety across the Highlands and Islands.