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-41999

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether data on the average time a patient has spent on a trolley in emergency departments is published routinely by NHS boards, and if this is not the case, whether it will commit to doing so.

Question reference: S6W-42011

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the highest number of times is that an individual adult social care service user has had their care package cancelled and subsequently reassigned in a single year, since 2020.

Question reference: S6W-41997

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how long on average patients have spent on a trolley in emergency departments in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S6F-04495

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 December 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-42003

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out on the impact of delayed NHS 24 callbacks on patient outcomes.

NHS 24 have robust practices in place to ensure patient safety is paramount and that the appropriate procedures are in place for assessing risk.

Scottish Government monitor the performance of NHS 24 and regularly engage with the service to discuss performance related issues. NHS 24 is required to escalate any concerns about patient safety to the Scottish Government immediately, in line with agreed protocols.

Question reference: S6W-42004

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS 24 111 telephone calls resulted in patients being referred to (a) A&E, (b) a GP and (c) other urgent care pathways in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-42014

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 1 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what specific measures are in place to ensure continuity of care for social care service users whose care package is cancelled during hospital admissions, and how these measures are monitored.

The Scottish Government recognises the value of social care support to all who require additional support in living independently at home or in the community and appreciate the concerns that may arise following changes to this support.

Under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships have a duty to assess the social care support needs of people both in hospital and the community, and decide in light of that assessment, to arrange or re-instate suitable services, if required.

While the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care support policy in Scotland, it is Local Government who have the statutory responsibility to record and share decisions affecting a person’s choices and support, and to ensure that any decisions are made in line with the Self-directed Support (SDS) principles and duties set out in the statutory guidance.

Local Government will operate local eligibility criteria to prioritise responses to changes in care packages and reassessments based on risk and complexity of need. The eligibility criteria will usually prescribe standard waiting times for assessments, reassessment and reviews, including for exceptional and urgent circumstances, such as hospital admissions, individuals at risk and additional support for unpaid carers.

Question reference: S6W-42006

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of NHS 24 111 calls resulted in no further medical action being taken in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-42012

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 1 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many adult social care packages have been cancelled following a hospital admission of (a) fewer than three days, (b) three to seven days and (c) more than seven days in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-42010

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 1 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many adult social care packages have been (a) initiated and (b) cancelled within each (i) NHS board and (ii) local authority area in each of the last five years.

(a) Data on the number of adult social care packages which have been initiated is not held centrally.

Numbers of new personal care clients were previously collected and published annually until 2022-23. Data was based on one quarter of data (January to March), each year and was available at local authority (LA) level, although not all LAs were able to provide the information:

Social care: eligibility criteria and waiting times Scotland 2022-2023 - gov.scot.

Due to difficulties faced by LAs in providing the data requested, including issues with consistency and comprehensiveness, this data collection has been paused while SG work with Public Health Scotland to explore ways to obtain more robust data.

(b) Data on adult social care packages which have been cancelled is not held centrally.