Jackie Baillie

20 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether district nurses are being used to administer COVID-19 booster vaccines and winter flu vaccines to individuals at home, and, if so, under what circumstances.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Due to the importance of the autumn/winter vaccines, some health boards are utilising Community Nursing Teams. This will particularly be for those patients who are on their current caseloads and are housebound. Community Nurses are also supporting vaccinatio…

15 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements are in place to ensure that people who are medically exempt from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine and therefore do not have a vaccine certificate are still able to (a) access services and venues and (b) travel internationally.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Vaccination is the best way to keep you, your friends, family, and community safe and we encourage everyone to consider getting the vaccine. In the vast majority of cases a successful route to safe vaccination can be found. If vaccination is not straightfor…

15 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports of a breakdown in trust between chronic pain patients and its Clinical Priorities Unit, whether it will transfer responsibility for chronic pain policy from the unit to another part of the civil service.

Answer · Maree Todd: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03808 on? 8 November 2021. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-commit…

15 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that officials from the Clinical Priorities Unit told chronic pain patients that gestures such as tutting or eye rolling at a meeting of the National Advisory Committee on Chronic Pain could lead to dismissal as a volunteer patient representative and that …

Answer · Maree Todd: We are committed to ensuring that people with chronic pain are involved in decisions about the services they use. We have established a Patient Reference Group for Chronic Pain, convened and run by the Health and Social Care ALLIANCE, to ensure that the views…

15 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to extend the COVID-19 vaccine certification (COVID passport) scheme to other businesses such as hospitality settings and smaller indoor events.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: We will keep the scope of our certification scheme under review to ensure it remains necessary, proportionate, and targeted in order to continue helping to drive vaccination rates up as high as possible; and providing an additional layer of protection over th…

13 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to join the National Metastatic Breast Cancer Audit.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: There are no plans to undertake an immediate metastatic breast cancer audit. Our focus currently remains on maximizing available clinical capacity to see patients. Our £114.5m National Cancer Plan has a range of measures aimed at benefitting all cancer patien…

13 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is making the necessary progress to meet its commitment to establish a miscarriage service tailored to the needs of women by the end of 2023.

Answer · Maree Todd: As set out in the Programme for Government 2021 - 22, published on 7 September 2021, the Scottish Government is committed to establishing a dignified and compassionate miscarriage service by the end of 2023. Work is underway to progress this commitment, whic…

8 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve data collection regarding the (a) prevalence of, (b) treatment waiting times for and (c) cost of treating neurological conditions.

Answer · Maree Todd: We are working closely with colleagues in Public Health Scotland to develop systems that will collect key data to inform service planning, delivery of clinical standards, and improvement across Scotland. In the first instance we have commissioned an audit of …

8 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the MS Society report, Neurology Now, and, in light of the report's findings, what its position is on introducing a national reporting framework to measure improvements in care and support.

Answer · Maree Todd: We welcome the MS Society’s Neurology Now report as an important document highlighting the issues for people with MS and wider neurological conditions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. I am pleased to say that I recently met with officials from the MS Society…

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to involve private digital technology providers in the handling of GP telephone consultations.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: GP practices are independent contractors and therefore decisions relating to telephony are at their discretion. On top of practices’ core funding allocation, the Scottish Government is making an additional £600,000 funding available this year for the Health B…

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the funding announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care in his statement to the Parliament on 5 October 2021, Health and Social Care (Winter Planning), whether it includes new funding, and, if so, how much, and what its source is.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: On top of the £1.9 billion provided to support COVID pressures in health and care this year, as set out in the statement, the £300 million represents additional investment to specifically support winter pressures. This is funded from health and social care c…

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it decided to develop a separate Covid Status App, and whether the NHS Scotland app has any additional functionality compared with the England and Wales version of the app.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: I recognise that there are now a number of apps supporting the Covid response in Scotland, however none of the pre-existing apps (e.g. Protect Scotland) offered the ability to provide secure, authenticated access to an individual’s health record. For this rea…

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the additional funding of £62 million for unmet need in social care is recurring funding.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: As set out in the announcement, £62 million for 2021-22 has been allocated for building capacity in care at home community-based services. This is recurring funding intended help to fulfil unmet need, and deal with the current surge in demand and complexity o…

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason some people experienced difficulties accessing the NHS Scotland Covid Status App in the 72 hours after launch.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Most people were able to access the NHS Scotland Covid Status App without difficulty from launch. Where people experienced difficulties it was when they requested access to their vaccination status through the app after having verified their identity. This pr…

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the multi-disciplinary teams, announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care in his statement to the Parliament on 5 October 2021, Health and Social Care (Winter Planning), to be in place.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government set out the local arrangements that should be put in place to provide clinical and professional multi-disciplinary team oversight for social care services during the COVID-19 pandemic in a letter dated 17 May 2020. These arrangements,…

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how the £62 million for unmet need in social care will be allocated, broken down by local authority.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The additional funding of £62 million to expand care at home capacity has been approved for distribution to local authorities by the Settlement and Distribution Group meeting on 18th October and will be passed in full to IJBs . The distribution methodology fo…

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether any reductions to care packages by local authorities will be halted in light of the additional funding of £62 million for unmet need in social care.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The health and social care system is currently experiencing significant pressures. We recognise that some people’s care services have been affected by this, and the impact this may have on them and their unpaid carers. That is why an investment of more than …

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many acute beds are currently available in the NHS, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Public Health Scotland publish figures quarterly and annually on the number of acute beds broken down by NHS Board of Treatment and Specialty. The most recent annual publication, covering April 2020–March 2021, was published on 29 September 2020.

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost is of the NHS Scotland Covid Status App.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The initial contract to develop the NHS Scotland Covid Status App was awarded to Netcompany through fair and open procurement at a cost of £600,000. Netcompany is a Danish firm who have developed the Coronapas App for Denmark and the NHS Covid Pass for Englan…

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it received the UK Government’s offer to adapt the England and Wales COVID-19 vaccine status app for use in Scotland.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government has never received an offer from the UK Government to adapt its app to support our needs. It is appropriate that we design a scheme that is right for Scotland, works in our context, and offers us the flexibility to adapt to our changin…

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS boards have currently suspended elective surgery, and in the case of each NHS board (a) for how long has the surgery been suspended and (b) when will the surgery resume.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: When making the difficult decision to suspend any non-urgent elective surgery, Health Boards are following local decision making on an daily and weekly basis, dependant on where the most pressures are ensuring urgent elective and Cancer surgery continues. Wh…

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many additional acute beds are planned for the NHS in response to the anticipated winter pressures, and whether these will be permanent or temporary beds, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: A key component to freeing up bed capacity in our hospitals this winter is to reduce the level of delayed discharge and strengthen community services to help avoid acute admissions and maximise capacity. To support this, we are providing £300 million to bolst…

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the funding announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care in his statement to the Parliament on 5 October 2021, Health and Social Care (Winter Planning), is recurring.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: As set out in the announcement, the £300 million is both additional and recurring investment, demonstrating Scottish Government’s commitment to enabling longer term planning, particularly on workforce, to ensure a well-supported and resilient health and socia…

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the 1,000 additional health and care support staff, announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care in his statement to the Parliament on 5 October 2021, Health and Social Care (Winter Planning), to be in place.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Health Boards have already commenced recruitment activity to meet the commitment to recruit an additional 1,000 Health and Care Support staff at AfC Bands 2, 3 & 4 to provide additional capacity across a variety of services both in the community and in hospit…

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of any differences between the NHS Scotland Covid Status App and the England and Wales version of the app, in light of them both being required to meet the same international standard.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03618 on 8 November 2021. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committ…

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many existing hospital beds will be released as a result of improvements that are planned to reduce delayed discharge.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Our clear ambition is that no one should be inappropriately delayed in hospital once they are clinically ready for discharge. However, given the current challenges health and social care partnerships are experiencing in relation to recruitment of care staff, …

1 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) shortest, (b) median and (c) longest waiting time has been for a toxicology report to be completed in each of the last 10 years.

Answer · Dorothy Bain: An analysis of the obtained from the two toxicology providers in Scotland – NHS Grampian which provides approximately 10% of the analysis capability and Glasgow University which provides the rest – is set out in the tables below. It should be noted however t…

1 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce toxicology waiting times, and by what date it expects this reduction will begin to take place.

Answer · Dorothy Bain: COPFS and the University of Glasgow agreed an Improvement Plan to reduce the toxicology waiting times. This plan defined performance targets and required the University of Glasgow to provide data to COPFS on a weekly basis. The required data was to highlight …

1 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding the number of toxicology reports that remain outstanding because of the reported backlog.   

Answer · Dorothy Bain: In 2019 COPFS began to experience delays in the provision of toxicology reports from the University of Glasgow, the main contractor for this service. This was further compounded during 2020 due to the pandemic. Once a toxicological report has been finalised,…

1 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reasons it is reportedly recognising COVID-19 vaccinations administered in the USA but not those administered in Canada.     

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government recognises vaccines approved for use in the UK regardless of where they were administered to determine whether a person has completed their primary dose or whether they require additional doses to be fully vaccinated. Those who have b…