Dr Richard Simpson

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on research into mental health in each year since 2007.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: A total of almost £15.7 million has been spent on mental health research since 2007. The majority of this funding has come from the Chief Scientist Office – almost £15 million. The combined annual awarded funding for mental health related research grants a…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) adults and (b) children in prison or other criminal justice settings have (i) mental health problems and (ii) learning difficulties.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government does not hold national data on the numbers of adults and young people within prison and criminal justice settings in Scotland who have mental health problems and learning difficulties. Mental health services, and the recording of thi…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what average length of time police officers spend in accident and emergency departments accompanying people with a mental illness.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Police Scotland has also advised that it does not maintain records on this detail.

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the article, Mindfulness in Clinician Therapeutic Relationships, which was published in the journal, Mindfulness, in September 2013.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government notes the publication of this study which sought to explore the relationship between clinicians’ mindfulness and their perceived therapeutic alliance with their clients. The evidence that the quality of the therapeutic relationship is …

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (a) what proportion of people who accessed mental health crisis care in the last year had not used mental health services before.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: This information requested is not held centrally. The Scottish Government is currently working with the Scottish crisis and acute inpatient network on commitment 23 of the Mental Health Strategy 2012-15 to develop a core data set that will allow effective co…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time is for mental health treatment following referral.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The average adjusted median wait for treatment is eight weeks.

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of NHS spending is allocated to mental health services.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: In 2013-14, expenditure on mental health accounted for 11.82% of NHS spending.

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients who were discharged from acute mental health services in each of the last three years received a seven-day follow-up.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: This information is not held centrally.

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS mental health posts are unfilled.

Answer · Shona Robison: The number of posts currently unfilled for consultants working in mental health, compared to the position at 30 September 2006 is shown in the first table. The number of posts currently unfilled for nurses working in mental health, compared to the position a…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to prevent inequality in mental health services.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Overall, health in Scotland is improving, and people are living longer, healthier lives. Reducing the health gap between people in Scotland’s most deprived and affluent communities is one of our greatest challenges. Our approach to improving mental health se…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding the number of LGBT people who have contemplated suicide.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: This information is not collected. However we recognise that LGBT people can experience more difficulty than others in accessing mental health services to meet their needs. This can be because some groups are less likely to try to access services, for example…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of mental health patient have (a) drug and (b) alcohol problems.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: This information is not held centrally.

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce the number of patients who are designated as code 9 in the Delayed Discharges Definitions and Data Recording Manual but are not recorded on the delayed discharge database.

Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-23868 on 20 January 2015. 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/parliamentar…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reverse the reported increase in the number of patients facing delayed discharge from hospital.

Answer · Shona Robison: As set out in our Programme for Government on 26 November 2014, delayed discharges are significantly lower than they were in 2006. But we need to do more and tackling this issue is a key priority of this government. Since August 2014 we have invested £18 mil…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it is providing to each NHS board to meet increased demand due to the winter, and what the criteria are for determining this.

Answer · Shona Robison: We have invested over £29 million this year (2014-15) to support the NHS and help boards cope with the added pressures they are experiencing as well as manage winter pressures. We have invested £9.5 million through our National Unscheduled Care Action Plan. …

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether rates of breastfeeding exclusively are reducing and, if so, what information it has on the reasons for the reduction.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The percentage of children exclusively breastfed at the first visit has gradually decreased from 38.6% in 2004-05 to 35.4% in 2013-14. Over the same period the percentage of children exclusively breastfed at the six to eight week review has remained broadly s…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the breastfeeding rates are for each (a) NHS board and (b) community health partnership after adjusting for deprivation.

Answer · Maureen Watt: Breastfeeding information is collected at the child health programme health visitor first visit review (which takes place at around 10 days of age) and at the six to eight week review. At these reviews, the health professional (normally a health visitor) reco…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the rates of (a) breastfeeding exclusively and (b) breast- and bottlefeeding were in all family nurse partnership births up to August 2014.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The rates from all family nurse partnership (FNP) births who were (a) breastfeeding exclusively was 5.9% and (b) breast and bottle feeding was 10.8% up to August 2014. This is captured at six weeks’ post partum and has been extracted from the family nurse pa…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-23581 by Shona Robison on 19 December 2014, what savings have been made or are planned by each NHS board to help achieve the projected financial balance.

Answer · Shona Robison: Efficiency savings do not reduce the overall budget of NHS boards and are necessary to continuously improve NHS services. All savings are retained locally by territorial boards to allow them to reinvest in front-line services which directly benefit patients. …

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-23581 by Shona Robison on 19 December 2014, whether the projected financial balance takes account of refunds on loans made to NHS boards.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates has in place a number of arrangements to assist boards with their, short, medium and longer term financial planning. These arrangements have been discussed and agreed with boards, reflected within th…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-23581 by Shona Robison on 19 December 2014, whether it considers that the information provided is consistent with reports that NHS Lothian has recorded an estimated overspend of £70 million and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Answer · Shona Robison: NHS Lothian along with all other NHS boards have an agreed financial plan to deliver a balanced financial position for the current financial year. The board fully recognise the statutory requirement to deliver a balanced financial plan for the year. Work is c…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many prisoners serving sentences of under six months have alcohol problems, and for what reason the issue of alcohol problems among prisoners has not been included in the NHSScotland Local Delivery Plan Guidance as a priority area for alcohol brief i…

Answer · Maureen Watt: Information regarding how many prisoners serving sentences of under six months have alcohol problems is not collected in this way and therefore not held centrally, however the Scottish Prison Service Prisoner Survey 2013 – Substance Misuse shows that alcohol …

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent by (a) the NHS and (b) its health directorate on management consultants in each of the last seven years.

Answer · Shona Robison: (a) The information is not held centrally for NHS boards. However, under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) (PSR) Act 2010 public bodies are required to publish a statement of any external consultancy expenditure they have incurred that financial year as s…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the recording of the postcode in addition to the Community Health Index (CHI) number in the delayed discharge data compromises the anonymity of patients.

Answer · Shona Robison: The anonymity of patients is not compromised by the recording of patient postcode and Community Health Index number. As part of information governance, Information Services Division Scotland follows strict confidentiality, security and disclosure protocol gui…

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the postcode of each patient is required in the delayed discharged database returns.

Answer · Shona Robison: The postcode is included to identify the local authority of residence of the patient.

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the date of birth is being recorded separately for delayed discharges when the Community Health Index (CHI) number includes the date of birth.

Answer · Shona Robison: The date of birth is collected to provide a breakdown by age. It is also used to check the accuracy of the Community Health Index number, and vice versa.

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) median time and (b) range of times has been in the last 12 months that patients are waiting for a guardianship order under the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 when they have been designated as code 9 secondary code 51x under the Delayed Discharges Definitions and …

Answer · Shona Robison: This information is not held centrally. Bed days lost data has been collected by NHS Information Services Division since 2012. It records every day delayed but cannot be broken down by reason for delay, or speciality.

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many mental health patients were designated as delayed discharges where there was a multidisciplinary team agreement that it was safe and reasonable to transfer them to a more appropriate setting and they met the criteria laid out in section 2.1 of the Delayed Discharges Definitions …

Answer · Shona Robison: The following table shows the number of standard delayed discharge patients in Scotland recorded within a mental health specialty in each quarterly delayed discharge census from January 2012 until October 2014. These are patients who have met the criteria as …

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much money has been transferred by each NHS board to support patients designated as code 100 in the Delayed Discharges Definitions and Data Recording Manual for whom responsibility for treatment has been assumed by a local authority, and what guidance it issues on this.

Answer · Shona Robison: No money has been allocated specifically for this purpose. These patients are either going through complex discharge planning arrangements, following a lengthy hospital stay, or are waiting to transfer to a more appropriate health and social care setting, as …

7 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many bed days in hospitals in each of the last five years were taken up by people who were designated as (a) inpatients whose medical status had changed such that they could be considered for accommodation in non-hospital settings and (b) awaiting relocation to another NHS or social …

Answer · Shona Robison: This level of detailed information is not held centrally.