Douglas Lumsden

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it is addressing any health inequalities linked to socioeconomic deprivation, and what measures are being taken to ensure equitable access to healthcare in rural communities.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government is committed to tackling health inequalities including in areas of socio-economic deprivation and to supporting people to live longer and healthier lives. In 2024-25 Scottish Government has allocated £3bn to measures which tackle…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in improving public space accessibility for people with visual and hearing impairments since 2018.

Answer · Kaukab Stewart: The Scottish Government is committed to improving accessibility for all disabled people, including those with visual and hearing impairments.Provisions in the Equality Act 2010 require providers of services to the public to make a reasonable adjustment so tha…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting times have been for accessing end-of-life care services across Scotland in each of the last five years.

Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Government does not centrally collect data on waiting times for accessing end-of-life care services across Scotland. Referral to specialist palliative care services for people living with serious health conditions and/or those who require special…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in tackling any health inequalities caused by food insecurity since 2018.

Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Government remains fully committed to tackling food insecurity which can contribute to health inequalities. No one in Scotland should have to compromise on food or other essentials.Food insecurity is driven by insufficient and insecure household …

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what data it holds on the availability of over-the-counter medication for common illnesses in rural pharmacies in the last five years.

Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Government does not hold this data.Over the counter medicines for common illnesses can be provided through the NHS Pharmacy First Scotland service, may be prescribed, or may be purchased from community pharmacies, other retailers and online.Publi…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to address any workforce shortages in NHS community audiology services, particularly in rural areas such as Aberdeenshire.

Answer · Jenni Minto: There is no community audiology service in Scotland currently, however consideration of audiology workforce capacity – within existing NHS hospital services – is integral to the work being taken forward to respond to the Independent Review of Audi…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of community pharmacists, particularly in underserved and rural communities.

Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Government continues to work with NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society to develop a joint programme to encourage more people, and not just school leavers, to consider careers in pharmacy. This includes targeting d…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what data it holds on the prevalence of postnatal depression over the past five years, and what steps it is taking to address any regional differences in support provision.

Answer · Maree Todd: The information requested on data held by the Scottish Government on the prevalence of postnatal depression over the past five years is not centrally available.We are committed to ensuring equitable, coordinated access to mental health provision for women, in…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting employers to implement menopause workplace policies.

Answer · Tom Arthur: The Scottish Government supports employers to overcome barriers for those experiencing the menopause in several ways.In the absence of powers on employment legislation the Scottish government seeks to drive Fair Work by attaching criteria to grants, contracts…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it is addressing any work-related stress and burnout in the healthcare sector, and what support is available specifically to healthcare workers in rural regions.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government is investing over £2.5 million in 2024-25 to support the mental health and wellbeing of health and care staff, reaffirming its commitment to their invaluable work. These resources include confidential mental health treatment thro…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it has evaluated the impact of community optometry services on reducing hospital referrals for eye conditions over the past five years.

Answer · Jenni Minto: Public Health Scotland publishes annual data on NHS eye examination on their website at: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/ophthalmic-workload-statistics/ophthalmic-workload-statistics-statistics-as-at-year-ending-31-march-2024/.Figure 5b of that…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in implementing the Women’s Health Plan since its launch, and what specific measures have been taken to address any regional disparities in women’s health outcomes.

Answer · Jenni Minto: Through implementation of the Women’s Health Plan we have established an NHS Board Women’s Health Lead Network with a Lead in every NHS Board. The Network enables the Leads to identify both common and local challenges and exchange ideas on innovat…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to people in rural areas with sensory impairments to ensure timely diagnosis and access to services.

Answer · Jenni Minto: Initial diagnosis of visual impairments largely takes place in community optometry practices following patient presentation to the service. We are not aware of access concerns to the service at this time.There is currently no community provision for audiology…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it is addressing any gaps in mental health services for rural populations, particularly in Aberdeenshire.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government recognise that people in rural areas can experience particular challenges in relation to their mental health and wellbeing.Decisions around the provision of mental health services is a local responsibility, planned by Integrated Joint …

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what initiatives it has introduced to promote workplace wellness programmes, and how these have been implemented in rural areas.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government supports the Healthy Working Lives (HWL) initiative, hosted by Public Health Scotland, which offers a range of materials to support employers on all aspects of work-related health promotion and ill health prevention, return to work and…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion services, in rural areas such as Aberdeenshire.

Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that women across Scotland have timely access to reproductive health services. Work continues on the actions set out in the Women’s Health Plan 2021 and the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus (SHBBV) Act…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors and evaluates any impact of sedentary working patterns on public health.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government is committed to supporting and enabling people to be more physically active. Mean sedentary time at work is monitored through data gathered from the annual Scottish Health Survey. The Scottish Government work closely with Public Health…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting NHS boards to expand community audiology and optometry services, and what assessment it has made of the impact this has had on rural areas over the past five years.

Answer · Jenni Minto: There is presently no national community audiology service. We are sponsoring the RNID ‘Near You’ scheme in partnership with the NHS in five Health Board areas. Benefits include locally-recruited staff, trained volunteers, savings of circa 500 cli…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support is available for women in rural areas to access (a) cervical and (b) breast cancer screening programmes, and what steps are being taken to improve uptake in these communities.

Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Government recognises the importance of ensuring that women in rural areas are able to access cervical and breast screening services.The breast screening programme operates from six centres across Scotland and is supported by 21 mobile units to a…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with NHS boards to improve early intervention services for sensory impairments in children, particularly in rural areas.

Answer · Jenni Minto: Early intervention, including diagnosis, for visual impairments largely takes place in community optometry practices following patient presentation to the service.Scottish Government is currently taking forward work to respond to the findings of the Independe…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in reducing obesity rates since 2018, and what plans it has to expand healthy eating initiatives in schools.

Answer · Jenni Minto: Our 2018 Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan set out ambitious and wide-ranging action to deliver our vision for a Scotland where everyone eats well and has a healthy weight. We are taking forward a range of action across five key outcomes: giving children …

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported rise in youth vaping rates, including any targeted campaigns aimed at rural areas.

Answer · Jenni Minto: Within our 24/25 Programme for Government we committed to working across the four nations on banning the sale of single use vapes (SUV) as well as the UK Tobacco and Vapes Bill.SUV’s have been linked to a rapid increase in the number of young people vap…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-32965 and S6W-32957 by Angus Robertson on 15 January 2025 what (a) role it plays in supporting Police Scotland to develop and review protocols for managing the discovery of unexploded wartime military ordnance near critical infrastructure, includi…

Answer · Angela Constance: Police Scotland's develop and management of protocols for discovery of unexploded wartime military ordnance near critical infrastructure is a operational matter for the service which is scrutinised by the Scottish Police Authority. It is for Police Scotland, …

16 Jan 2025 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the average loss/profit per jar of honey sold in the Parliament shop has been in each of the last five years.

Answer · Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB): The purpose of having bees at the Parliament is not to produce honey but to partially demonstrate our compliance with the biodiversity duty under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 which places a statutory duty on all public sector bodies in Scotland…

16 Jan 2025 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it has any plans to review or change the current delivery of beekeeping services at the Parliament.

Answer · Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB): The current contract runs until March 2025. The usual tendering process is being run for the bee keeping services.

16 Jan 2025 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the average notice period given by the beekeeper, for visits to the Parliament’s estate, has been in each of the last five years.

Answer · Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB): Notice is not required to be given as the beekeeper has a security pass and is fully security cleared.

16 Jan 2025 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many visits the beekeeper has made to the Parliament’s estate in each of the last five years.

Answer · Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB): The beekeeper attends as is required and does not need to make an appointment as he has a security pass.

16 Jan 2025 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many jars of honey were produced from the Parliament’s beehives in each of the last five years.

Answer · Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB): We have produced 144 jars in the last five years. Each jar is 227g. We received 99 jars in the financial year 2022/23 and 45 jars in 2024/25.

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it evaluates the effectiveness of telemedicine in improving healthcare outcomes for rural communities.

Answer · Neil Gray: All nationally scaled up developments are subject to appropriate evaluation and equalities impact assessments.As an example I can refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13957 on 31 January 2023 regarding formal evaluations undertaken on the NHS Near M…

16 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what specific actions are being taken to address any health inequalities in rural areas as part of its overall healthcare strategy.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government recognises that healthcare services should be planned and developed to meet the needs of patient populations and communities, including those in our rural areas.In order to tackle the decline in Scotland’s population health and w…