Parliamentary questions

Dr Richard Simpson

2,702 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many pharmacists have been appointed attached to GP practices or clusters of practices since the funding to recruit up to 140 pharmacists was announced.

Answer · Shona Robison: To date 28.4 whole time equivalent pharmacists have been appointed attached to GP practices or clusters of practices since the primary care funding to recruit up to 140 pharmacists was announced.

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many GP practices have introduced restrictions on new patients registering other than for geographical reasons in each NHS board.

Answer · Shona Robison: The following number of practices have introduced restrictions on new patients registering other than for geographical reasons in each NHS board. NHS Board Restrictions other than for geographical reasons on new patient registration Ayrshire and Arran 0 …

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many GP practices are closed to new patient registrations in each NHS board.

Answer · Shona Robison: The following number of practices are closed to new patient registrations in each NHS board: NHS Board Closed to new patient registrations Ayrshire and Arran 0 Borders 0 Dumfries and Galloway 0 Fife 0 Forth Valley 0 Grampian 0 Greater Glasgow a…

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many GP practices are on a 2c arrangement in each NHS board.

Answer · Shona Robison: The following table shows how many GP practices are on a 2C arrangement in each NHS board. NHS Board 2C practices Ayrshire and Arran 0 Borders 0 Dumfries and Galloway 0 Fife 2* Forth Valley 3 Grampian 8 Greater Glasgow and Clyde 1 Highland …

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how long NHS Lanarkshire's hospital doctor training scheme has been in enhanced monitoring; how long it expects this to continue; what other specialities and in which NHS boards or hospitals are in enhanced monitoring, and when they were placed in enhanced monitoring.

Answer · Shona Robison: As regulator of the medical profession in the UK, the General Medical Council (GMC) is responsible for monitoring the quality of medical training provided, and to decide where improvement actions need to be taken. This quality assurance role is conducted in p…

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of consultant appointment boards has been (a) cancelled and (b) cancelled more than once due to lack of suitable applicants in each of the last three years.

Answer · Shona Robison: Information has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh External Advisors Co-ordinators, who hold the data in relation to consultant boards. In 2013 there were 424 Scottish consultant panels. Of these, 130 (30%) were cancelled. Of those…

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what evaluation it has made of the effects of introducing the Hospital at Night system (a) on Monday to Friday and (b) at the weekend.

Answer · Shona Robison: Hospital at Night is a clinical system used in a number of NHS boards to ensure that high quality consistent care is provided to hospital inpatients overnight, and that staff working in the out of hours period do so under direct senior supervision. It is also…

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the review of NHS merit awards will be completed and a new scheme established.

Answer · Shona Robison: We have consistently said that we are clear on the need to reform the distinction awards scheme. The future of these awards will form part of the Scottish Government’s consideration of service redesign and overall remuneration, going forward.

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many consultants on (a) A, (b) B and (c) C merit awards have been transferred to the Scottish scheme from the rest of the UK.

Answer · Shona Robison: Distinction awards in Scotland are monitored on the basis of A+, A and B Awards. The answers are given in the following table: Year A+ Award holders A Award holders B Award holders Total 2006-07 1 2 3 2007-08 2 2 4 2008-09 1 2 3 2009-1…

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, for reasons other than retirement, how many consultants on (a) A, (b) B and (c) C merit awards have left the NHS since the system was frozen to new applicants in 2010.

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many new consultants were appointed in 2012 on a 9:1 contract, and how many subsequently had this changed to a (a) 9:2, (b) 8:2, (c) 7:5, (d) 2:5 and (e) other contract.

Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-30432 on 21 March 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/…

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many new consultants have been appointed in each year since 2013 on a (a) 9:1, (b) 8:2, (c) 7:5, (d) 2:5 and (e) other contract.

Answer · Shona Robison: This information is not held centrally. We currently have the highest medical staffing levels ever, with record numbers of consultants. Under this government, consultant numbers across Scotland have increased by 41.8 per cent, to 5,158.4 whole time equivale…

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason its budget for ehealth, published in its 2015-16 budget, was £90.7 million but, in its 2016-17 budget, the figure for the same year was shown as £9.9 million.

Answer · Shona Robison: The 2016-17 budget includes a new budget entitled Outcomes Framework. This provides a single source of funding to NHS boards which will provide greater local flexibility on decisions on how to maximise the value from this resource against clearly defined outc…

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in creating a new IT system for the Community Health Index (CHI), and what the cost has been to date of (a) in-house resources and (b) consultancies.

Answer · Shona Robison: The CHI and Child Health Transformation Programme will modernise a number of systems currently hosted on the mainframe platform. The programme will take a number of years to deliver and realise all benefits. One of the first elements of the programme of work …

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, other than the Scottish Wide Area Network contract, what other IT contracts it has let in the last five years in which a specified percentage of the contract was required to be subcontracted to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), and what the outcome was.

Answer · John Swinney: Principles deriving from the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union require that all public bodies treat all suppliers bidding for public contracts equally and without discrimination, including on the basis of size. It is for bidders to determine how…

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the Scottish Wide Area Network contract has been subcontracted to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME).

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-30196 on 15 March 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybus…

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the Scottish Wide Area Network contract was intended to be subcontracted to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME).

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the opinion of the Scottish Data Information Commissioner was sought before data sets were issued for collecting information on individual patients in relation to (a) community nursing and (b) community mental health services.

Answer · Shona Robison: The opinion of the Assistant Commissioner for Scotland and Northern Ireland was not sought before data sets were issued for collecting information on individual patients in relation to (a) community nursing and (b) community mental health services. National …

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the individual data supplied by NHS boards to the Information Services Division (ISD) on community nursing did not have a Community Health Index (CHI) number and required seeding from fully identifiable personal data, since commencement.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Community Health Activity Data project collects data on individuals being seen within community health services. To date, data submissions relate to district nursing activity only, and Community Health Index has been missing from only 0.08% of submissions…

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether, in delivering its New Clinical Strategy, it will require NHS board teams to participate fully in regional managed care networks where there is evidence that specialised teams have a better outcome.

Answer · Shona Robison: The national clinical strategy sets out a broad direction of travel for the development of health services across Scotland for the next 10-15 years. It does not give prescriptive details of exactly what developments are required, but rather gives an evidence-…

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendations of the Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services, whether it will publish proposals for reducing the duplication of committees and working groups across each of the territorial NHS boards.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government's response Renewing Scotland's Public Services: priorities for reform in response to the Christie Commission was published in September 2011. We continue to look at how we can further reduce duplication across NHS boards.

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing a requirement that reports concerning the final outturn costs for (a) its and (b) each NHS board's ICT projects should provide a breakdown of the cost of any (i) legal matters, (ii) external assessments or evaluations and (iii) consultancies.

Answer · Shona Robison: All projects should provide regular financial reports. This would include regular reporting of all costs including final outturn costs. This would include a breakdown of legal matters, external assessment or evaluations and consultancies.

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the predicted or actual (a) overspend or (b) underspend has been on each (i) of its and (ii) NHS board's ICT projects in each year since 2007.

Answer · Shona Robison: The information requested is not held centrally. Any information available on overspend and underspend for individual ICT projects would be held by the appropriate individual organisations across the public sector and it is a matter for those bodies to provid…

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many of (a) its and (b) each NHS board's senior managers (i) hold and (ii) do not hold an ICT qualification.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government hold no information on the ICT qualifications of NHS board’s senior managers. It is the responsibility of NHS boards to ensure appropriately qualified staff are in place. All Scottish Government staff within the ICT profession are requ…

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many Caldicott guardians in each NHS board have a senior management role in the board's ICT department, and what its position is on whether this might represent a conflict of interest.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government is not aware of any cases of where a Caldicott guardian is also in a senior management role in ICT. The launch of the NHSScotland Information Security Policy Framework, and the need to appoint Senior Information Risk Owners and improve…

9 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether all Caldicott guardians in each NHS board are medically qualified.

Answer · Shona Robison: Since 1997 boards have appointed Caldicott guardians as the senior advisors on how patient information is used internally and externally. Although there is no absolute requirement for the person to be medically qualified, the Scottish Government understands t…

8 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S3W-34518 by Nicola Sturgeon on 23 June 2010, whether a system to record who accesses electronic patient records is in place, and whether people will be able to request an audit of who has looked at their personal records.

Answer · Shona Robison: A privacy breach detection system is operational in all territorial boards. This is on top of the usual audit trails running on key clinical systems. Patients can ask for reassurance as to who is accessing their data (and why) and there are many ways in which…

8 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it has given to NHS boards that did not meet the 18-week guarantee on first appointments at chronic pain clinics.

Answer · Maureen Watt: It is the role of the Scottish Government to provide policies, frameworks and resources to NHS boards so they can deliver services that meet the needs of their local populations. Within this context, the actual provision of healthcare services is the responsi…

8 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that NHS boards meet the 18-week guarantee on first appointments at chronic pain clinics.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The Scottish Government expects all patients, regardless of their condition, to have timely access to the full range of healthcare services they require following clinical assessment. The chronic pain waiting times are developmental data to assess the issues …

8 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to introduce a waiting list for return patients with chronic pain problems.

Answer · Maureen Watt: Information on return appointments is not collected centrally. Each patient may require a different timescale for follow up appointments, as clinically determined. We do, however, expect patients to be seen within the most appropriate timescale for their cond…