Parliamentary questions
Dr Richard Simpson
2,702 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
20 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government which NHS boards it has given directions to regarding the performance of their duties under section 14 subsections (1) and (4) of the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Patient Rights (Feedback, Comments, Concerns and Complaints) (Scotland) Directions 2012 came into force in April 2012. No directions have been issued to individual boards. A number of directions that all boards have to comply with were included in the upd…
20 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken under section 15 subsection (1) of the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring a culture of openness and transparency within our NHS services, which actively welcomes all forms of feedback as a tool for continuous improvement. We have therefore taken a number of actions to support NHS boa…
20 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it will provide to ensure that there is a single feedback/complaint system for service users under section 11 of the Model Integration Scheme (Body Corporate) 09 October 2014 Version 1.
Answer · Shona Robison: Each health board and local authority must include within their integration scheme a description of how they will manage complaints, and the process by which a service user may make a complaint, in relation to service delivery under integration. The integrati…
20 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Patient Rights (Complaints Procedure and Consequential Provisions) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 is not included in the Model Integration Scheme (Body Corporate) 09 October 2014 Version 1.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Patient Rights (Complaints Procedure and Consequential Provisions) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 continues to apply to all health services, including those within the integration scheme. The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Integration Scheme) (Scotland) Regu…
20 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4O-03707 by Alex Neil on 19 November 2014 (Official Report, c. 9) when the new patient access scheme started in each area and when it will be able to assess whether the new scheme is working better than either of the preceding schemes.
Answer · Shona Robison: The new approach by the Scottish Medicines Consortium, including an additional opportunity to offer a patient access scheme, was put in place for submissions received after noon on 7 April 2014. The first decisions made under this new approach were published …
20 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the number of patients in NHS continuing care in Scotland is reported to be proportionately lower than that in England.
Answer · Shona Robison: Policy and guidance on NHS continuing healthcare is different between Scotland and England and the data is not therefore comparable.
20 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many category (a) A and (b) B patients are receiving NHS continuing care in a care home; how much this costs and, in light of its reported plan not to treat such patients outside hospital, what assessment it has made of how many would (i) subsequently have to be moved to hospital for…
Answer · Shona Robison: At the latest NHS continuing healthcare census (March 2014) there were 385 category A patients in care homes and 12 category B patients. Costs are not collected centrally. In announcing our acceptance of the recommendations of the Independent Review of NHS C…
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many women have received a forensic mental health assessment since the State Hospital stopped admitting female patients and at what locations.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Forensic mental health assessments are carried out on patients in a variety of settings, for example as voluntary patients or by GPs, and this information would not be passed to the Scottish Government.
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many women have been transferred to units in England for treatment since the State Hospital stopped admitting female patients and how much this has cost.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Since the State Hospital stopped admitting female patients in 2009, 21 female patients have been sent to England for treatment. Of these, only a very small number (actual number suppressed to protect patient confidentiality) were sent to a high-secure facilit…
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether there is a report prepared on the prior management of every mentally-ill person who has committed homicide and, if so, who is responsible for ensuring that the report is carried out and who audits the (a) reports and (b) quality of the guidance.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: A homicide by a patient in touch with mental health services would constitute a ‘Category 1 adverse event’, which should trigger a comprehensive review by local health services, in terms of Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s (HIS) guidance –Learning from adver…
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what recent surveys have been carried out of patients' views of hospital food and whether these are publicly available.
Answer · Shona Robison: All NHS boards carry out an annual survey of patient satisfaction with hospital food. The results are collated by Health Facilities Scotland (HFS) to provide a view for NHS Scotland. The most recent results were collated in November 2014. Results of the pati…
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government which body inspects hospital food and whether its reports are publicly available.
Answer · Shona Robison: Health Facilities Scotland report every six months on compliance with the NHSScotland Food in Hospitals National Catering and Nutrition Specification, based on self-assessment by health boards. The most recent report, published in August 2014, showed that com…
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have registered for the chronic medicines prescription scheme and what action it is taking to encourage registration, other than literature being made available in community pharmacies.
Answer · Shona Robison: As at week commencing 24 November 2014, there were 417,200 patients registered for the chronic medication service (CMS) in community pharmacies across Scotland. In the context of Prescription for Excellence, the Scottish Government is working with health boar…
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported increase in GP workloads, whether it will reintroduce the requirement for a prescription exemption application form to be completed in order to be eligible for treatment under the minor ailment service.
Answer · Shona Robison: Patients with a valid medical exemption certificate can apply to register for the minor ailment service. The medical conditions by which a patient qualifies for a medical exemption certificate are set out in the NHS (Free Prescriptions and Charges for Drugs a…
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it advertises eligibility for treatment under the minor ailment service.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government publishes a patient information leaflet which includes details about who the minor ailment service is for (eligibility), how to register and how registration works, and the advice and treatments available through the service. The leaf…
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many 16 to 65-year-olds are ineligible for treatment under the minor ailment service.
Answer · Shona Robison: The eligibility criteria for the minor ailment service (MAS) are set out in the Health Board Additional Pharmaceutical Services (minor ailment service) (Scotland) Directions 2011, which can be found on the Scotland’s Health on the Web website at:www.sehd.scot…
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it cost for (a) paracetamol and (b) aspirin to be prescribed by (i) GPs and (ii) the minor ailment service in 2013-14 and what the estimated cost is for 2014-15, also broken down by the average cost per prescription.
Answer · Shona Robison: The 2013-14 gross ingredient cost (GIC) of paracetamol and aspirin (i) dispensed in the community and (ii) dispensed through the minor ailment service is published on the National Services Scotland Information Services Division website at: https://isdscotlan…
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the target net income for GPs will be for (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.
Answer · Shona Robison: The vast majority of GP practices in Scotland operate as independent contractors with funding provided to the GP practice, not to individual GPs, for the delivery of primary medical services. It is for the practice partners to determine the best use of that …
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to pay GPs the £55 fee for each diagnosis of dementia as announced for GPs in England.
Answer · Shona Robison: An accurate, timely dementia diagnosis is the gateway to effective care, treatment and support. The GP contract in Scotland already supports the dementia care pathway by incentivising appropriate clinical activity through the quality and outcomes framework. …
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will update the cost of cancer in Scotland from the 2003 analysis on the Information Services Division website.
Answer · Shona Robison: In April 2012, the Scottish Government published a methodology paper describing the pilot application of Programme Budgeting and Marginal Analysis in Scotland, using 2007-08 data. Section 4.2 of this document contains information on the estimated costs of can…
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide a substantive reply to the letter from Roger Livermore of 14 September 2014 regarding health and safety legislation in the NHS, which was acknowledged on 17 September.
Answer · Shona Robison: Roger Livermore has written to the Scottish Government several times regarding health and safety legislation in NHSScotland. He has received five substantive replies and three more informing him that the Scottish Government had nothing further to add to prev…
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether its target for two hours of physical education for every school class will be achieved by the end of 2014.
Answer · Alasdair Allan: The 2014 Healthy Living Survey, published in June 2014, shows 96% of schools are delivering at least two hours physical education in primary schools and at least two periods in secondary schools, in S1-S4. With the new school term having started in August 201…
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the report in The Sunday Post on 2 November 2014 that 900 NHS employees have been accused of breaching the Data Protection Act 1998 and what information it has on how many cases have subsequently been reported to the Scottish Information Commissioner.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government’s position is that any security incident in NHSScotland that leads to breach of patient confidentiality is unacceptable. But it must be stressed that the vast majority of information security incidents reported internally by boards are…
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provides details of each (a) leadership and (b) training course open to (i) doctors, (ii) nurses, (iii) midwives, (iv) allied health professionals and (v) social workers that it has supported in each of the last three years, broken down by the funding it has (A) provided …
Answer · Shona Robison: Providing the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the new drug and alcohol information system (DAISy) will replace all existing systems including (a) SMR 25a, (b) waiting time data collection and (c) data entry on individual NHS board patient recording systems.
Answer · Maureen Watt: The Drug and Alcohol Information System (DAISy) will replace two existing data collection systems: (a) the Scottish Drug Misuse Database (SDMD) that collects SMR25a/b and (b) the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Waiting Times database. It will also gather informati…
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what process of consent will be incorporated into the proposed drug and alcohol information system (DAISy).
Answer · Maureen Watt: Ensuring all aspects of information governance are addressed is an important element of the drug and alcohol information system (DAISy) project and there is a dedicated subgroup in place to deal with these matters. Addressing the process of consent is one of …
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether, when designing the new drug and alcohol information system (DAISy), the steering group (a) consulted a Caldicott guardian, (b) consulted the Scottish Drugs Forum and (c) examined the findings of The Munro Review of Child Protection: Final Report.
Answer · Maureen Watt: The drug and alcohol information system (DAISy) is governed by a project board which has a range of subgroups tasked to deal with specific issues. The DAISy information governance subgroup ensures necessary approvals are gained from Caldicott guardian and in…
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had legal advice or advice from the Scottish Human Rights Commission on whether the proposed data entry and collection system for the proposed drug and alcohol information system (DAISy) is compliant with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and whether it…
Answer · Maureen Watt: Ensuring all aspects of information governance are addressed is an important element of the drug and alcohol information system (DAISy) project and there is a dedicated subgroup in place to deal with these matters. The subgroup will advise on whether DAISy is…
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what studies it has conducted of the flow of traffic travelling (a) north and (b) south at the Keir roundabout on the M9.
Answer · Derek Mackay: As part of the A9 Keir to Luncarty study, a detailed survey of traffic movements was undertaken in October 2012. This provided an understanding of all traffic movements approaching the roundabout, including details of turning traffic to/from the A9 to the M9.…
18 Nov 2014 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it last carried out modelling of the traffic density and speed and the design suitability on the Keir roundabout on the M9.
Answer · Derek Mackay: No detailed traffic modelling has been undertaken by Transport Scotland of Keir roundabout. However, as part of the A9 Keir to Luncarty study, details of the junction and the traffic using it have been included in the economic evaluation model of improvements…