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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 44048 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-02293

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 16 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 4 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00855 by Humza Yousaf on 19 July 2021, whether it will provide equivalent information on (a)(i) amber- and (ii) yellow-coded calls and (b) the total number of calls responded to over the same period.

Please find the requested information set out in the following table.

Purple/Red/Amber/Yellow Incidents Attended, 01-01-2017 - 31/05/2021

		2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Purple	Incidents Attended	8,677	9,591	13,547	15,091	6,987
	>8 Minutes	2,544	2,874	4,463	6,278	2,978
	>8 Minutes %	29.3%	30.0%	32.9%	41.6%	42.6%
	>10 Minutes	1,623	1,826	2,903	4,243	1,992
	>10 Minutes %	18.7%	19.0%	21.4%	28.1%	28.5%
	>15 Minutes	542	604	1,028	1,518	790
	>15 Minutes %	6.2%	6.3%	7.6%	10.1%	11.3%
	>20 Minutes	206	230	376	608	314
	>20 Minutes %	2.4%	2.4%	2.8%	4.0%	4.5%
Red	Incidents Attended	55,549	67,535	80,867	70,105	32,923
	>8 Minutes	21,214	28,568	37,101	36,495	17,529
	>8 Minutes %	38.2%	42.3%	45.9%	52.1%	53.2%
	>10 Minutes	13,933	19,238	25,877	26,043	13,042
	>10 Minutes %	25.1%	28.5%	32.0%	37.1%	39.6%
	>15 Minutes	5,293	7,632	10,610	10,989	6,006
	>15 Minutes %	9.5%	11.3%	13.1%	15.7%	18.2%
	>20 Minutes	2,339	3,381	4,783	4,931	2,804
	>20 Minutes %	4.2%	5.0%	5.9%	7.0%	8.5%
Amber	Incidents Attended	105,429	119,018	152,784	176,805	82,021
	>8 Minutes	70,466	87,016	118,086	145,243	69,955
	>8 Minutes %	66.8%	73.1%	77.3%	82.1%	85.3%
	>10 Minutes	57,333	72,152	101,481	128,125	63,024
	>10 Minutes %	54.4%	60.6%	66.4%	72.5%	76.8%
	>15 Minutes	30,226	41,185	64,791	87,859	46,120
	>15 Minutes %	28.7%	34.6%	42.4%	49.7%	56.2%
	>20 Minutes	14,096	21,252	38,611	57,032	31,801
	>20 Minutes %	13.4%	17.9%	25.3%	32.3%	38.8%
Yellow	Incidents Attended	326,824	318,361	295,428	238,862	87,232
	>8 Minutes	237,968	256,714	245,468	205,797	79,726
	>8 Minutes %	72.8%	80.6%	83.1%	86.2%	91.4%
	>10 Minutes	208,160	230,742	225,055	190,443	75,636
	>10 Minutes %	63.7%	72.5%	76.2%	79.7%	86.7%
	>15 Minutes	147,207	175,591	180,932	156,806	66,670
	>15 Minutes %	45.0%	55.2%	61.2%	65.6%	76.4%
	>20 Minutes	103,170	131,965	144,713	129,370	59,113
	>20 Minutes %	31.6%	41.5%	49.0%	54.2%	67.8%

SAS launched its New Clinical Response Model (NCRM) in November 2016, based on a detailed clinical analysis of around half a million 999 calls. Since then, following triage, 999 calls are coded to one of five categories based on the likelihood of serious outcomes or the requirement for specific interventions:

Purple: where a patient is identified as having a 10% or more chance of cardiac arrest.

Red: where a patient is identified as having a likelihood of cardiac arrest between 1% and 9.9%,or having a need for resuscitation interventions such as airway management above 2%.

Amber: where a patient is likely to need diagnosis and conveyance to definitive care.

Yellow: a patient who has a need for emergency care but has a very low likelihood of requiring life-saving interventions. For example, patients who have tripped or fallen but not sustained any serious injury.

Green: a patient does not fit the above categories and there is potential for an alternative care pathway.

Question reference: S6W-02304

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 4 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme 2021 national report, what it considers the impact on stroke (a) mortality and (b) recovery would be if all NHS boards achieved their targets for stroke bundle provision, and what its position is on whether achieving these bundle provision targets represents an acceptable level of stroke care.

There is evidence that achieving the stroke bundle reduces mortality and increases the chance of patients returning to their usual place of residence after stroke.

There are a number of other factors in achieving an acceptable level of care for people with stroke. However, the stroke bundle is a simple metric which has been shown to be associated with improved outcomes. The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme Team will continue to support NHS Boards to achieve the Stroke Bundle as well as supporting improvements across the stroke pathway.

Question reference: S6W-02310

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 4 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is doing to increase public awareness of (a) melanoma and (b) other skin cancers (i) among people under 35 and (ii) in general.

Our Detect Cancer Early (DCE) Programme is aimed at increasing early diagnosis rates of Scotland’s most common cancers while reducing health inequalities. Following an options appraisal exercise, melanoma was selected as the next tumour type for inclusion in the DCE Programme in 2016.

DCE’s website (getcheckedearly.org) and digital channels help to increase awareness of symptoms of a number of tumour groups, including melanoma, on an ongoing basis. The Programme also works closely with third sector to share patient experience stories, to prompt others to take action.

DCE launched a new overarching campaign – Survivors - in September 2018 to reduce fear of cancer and empower people to act early, if they noticed any possible signs of cancer. The NHS Recovery Plan, published 25 August 2021, commits a further £20 million investment to the DCE Programme which will include additional public awareness campaigns.

Question reference: S6W-02306

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 4 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the World Stroke Organization's Roadmap to Delivering Quality Stroke Care, how it assesses Scotland’s stroke care against this roadmap; what Scotland’s current level of stroke service capacity is; what gaps exist, compared with the roadmap; what action it will take to ensure that stroke care in Scotland is based on evidence and best practice from around the world, and by when.

Work is ongoing to produce a progressive stroke pathway document by December 2021. This will take account of international evidence, including the World Stroke Organisation’s roadmap to delivering quality stroke care, to define what a progressive stroke pathway should look like in Scotland.

The progressive stroke pathway will, similarly to the roadmap, follow the continuum of care starting at the onset of a stroke event through the acute phase (emergency department and inpatient care), and stroke rehabilitation and long term supported recovery.

Following this, an implementation plan will identify any gaps between current capacity and the progressive stroke pathway vision, and outline clear actions to take.

Question reference: S6W-02315

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 4 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have received a different COVID-19 vaccine for their second dose than the one they received for their first dose, broken down by the circumstances in which this has occurred.

As of August 23rd there are 8,220 records flagged receiving 2 doses of mixed COVID-19 vaccine products in the National Clinical Data Store (NCDS).

There are 7,697,632 total records ( first and second doses ) in the NCDS relating to COVID-19 vaccinations therefore this number is 0.11% of records flagged.

The circumstances for these are not recorded.

Data completeness and accuracy checks have not yet been carried out on each of these records, therefore some of these records may be duplicates, or in fact relate to more than a single individual.

Question reference: S6W-02307

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 4 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria need to be met in order for an area of a hospital to be designated a stroke unit; how the capabilities of stroke units have been maintained during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that people who survive a stroke receive full stroke unit care; which NHS boards have had their stroke units downgraded during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how many stroke patients have had their recovery impacted as a result.

The core criteria for defining a stroke unit are well described in the academic literature, including in Langhorne et al (2002). Though the size and configuration of stroke units across Scotland may vary depending on local factors, most will be in a defined ward setting and have a specialist stroke multidisciplinary team.

Covid-19 has had an unprecedented impact on the world, NHS Scotland and stroke services. Each service will have responded in the best way that it could, depending on the specific issues affecting them.

The 2021 Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme Report (which includes 9 months of the pandemic) shows slight deterioration in performance against the stroke standards for stroke unit access (77% in 2020 compared to 82% in 2019).

While stroke unit access declined, achievement of standards in other areas, including brain imaging within 12 hours of arrival (86% in 2020 compared 84% in 2019), time to carotid intervention (61%; 59%) and mean thrombolysis door-to-needle (DTN) time (51 minutes in 2020 compared to 53 minutes in 2019), improved.

All of these aspects also have an important impact on recovery from stroke, and therefore it is not possible to isolate the recovery impact based on one standard (such as stroke unit access).

Question reference: S6W-02305

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 4 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in the period covered by the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme 2021 national report, how many people who survived a stroke were discharged with (a) a significant, (b) a moderate, (c) a slight and (d) no disability; how their rehabilitation needs were assessed; how many patients received rehabilitation, and whether rehabilitation enabled them to achieve their recovery potential.

The Scottish Stroke Care Audit does not currently directly measure level of disability at the time of hospital discharge. The stroke improvement team rehabilitation sub group is currently considering future updates to measure rehabilitation service delivery, patient outcomes and experiences.

Rehabilitation is a person centred process. People with ongoing impairment and activity limitations following a stroke are assessed by a multidisciplinary team and their wishes and needs are agreed individually as part of their rehabilitation plan. All patients who require stroke rehabilitation should be offered it. Rehabilitation may be delivered via a variety of inpatient, early supported discharge and community teams

Question reference: S6W-03201

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 1 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on whether there are any services in Scotland that provide assistance dogs for people with autism or autism spectrum disorders.

Question reference: S6W-03140

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 1 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to publish a response to the review of the Town Centre Action Plan.

Question reference: S6W-03127

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it (a) has conducted and (b) plans to conduct a policy impact assessment for Scotland in relation to the UK Government's Nationality and Borders Bill.

The Scottish Government has undertaken work to assess the impact of provisions in the Nationality and Borders Bill on communities in Scotland. Issues highlighted through this work are set out in my letter of 1 September to the Home Secretary, which is on the Scottish Government website at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/letter-from-the-cabinet-secretary-for-social-justice-housing-and-local-government-to-rt-hon-priti-patel-mp/