Dr Richard Simpson

14 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will increase the level of free personal care allowance to meet the additional costs arising from the £7.20 per hour national minimum wage requirement from April 2016.

Answer · Shona Robison: The UK Government recently announced the national living wage and we are working with stakeholders to understand the impact of this to the care sector. The Scottish Government has increased payments for Free Personal and Nursing Care in line with inflation a…

14 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the increased cost to personally funded community care clients and care home residents for service providers to meet the £7.20 per hour national minimum wage requirement from April 2016.

Answer · Shona Robison: The UK Government recently announced the national living wage and we are working with stakeholders to understand the impact of this to the care sector. Charges for non-residential care are determined by local authorities. Independent and third sector residen…

14 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will increase funding to local authorities to allow them to assist care homes and community care providers to meet the £7.20 per hour national minimum wage requirement from April 2016.

Answer · Shona Robison: The UK Government recently announced the national living wage and we are working with stakeholders to understand the impact of this to the care sector. We are committed to improving the quality of care in Scotland and to working to promote social justice, in…

14 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the cessation of funding for NHS continuing care in the community, what its position is on the reported concerns of the Parkinson's UK and other advocacy groups representing people with long-term deteriorating conditions that those requiring significant nursing care who were…

Answer · Shona Robison: NHS Continuing Healthcare has never been subject to a specific funding stream so no funding has ceased as a consequence of our publication of new guidance. Rather, healthcare is provided by NHS boards from their overall funding allocations as provided by the …

14 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of homes in England being contracted to provide such a service, what its position is on whether any care home in Scotland has the capacity or skills to provide high levels of care for people with advanced long-term or terminal conditions.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Guidance on Hospital Based Complex Clinical Care issued in May 2015 and makes it clear that people should only receive care in a hospital if they cannot be cared for in a more appropriate place. This will require health and social care teams to work in an int…

14 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it supports people in care homes who do not wish to move to hospital although (a) their condition is severe enough to require significant additional nursing care and (b) they require end of life care.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Guidance on Hospital Based Complex Clinical Care issued in May 2015 and makes it clear that people should only receive care in a hospital if they cannot be cared for in a more appropriate place. This will require health and social care teams to work in an int…

14 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the cessation of funding for NHS continuing care in the community, whether patients receiving such support in England who wish to transfer to Scotland will lose their funding.

Answer · Shona Robison: NHS continuing healthcare has never been subject to a specific funding stream, and no funding has ceased as a consequence of our publication of new guidance. Scotland and England have always had different eligibility for NHS continuing healthcare. We simplifi…

14 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the cessation of funding for NHS continuing care in the community, how many long-stay hospital beds it estimates will be occupied by people who would have formed the next cohort of those who would have been eligible for this support.

Answer · Shona Robison: NHS continuing healthcare has never been subject to a specific funding stream, and no funding has ceased as a consequence of our publication of new guidance. Estimates undertaken during the development of the revised guidance suggested that around 385 people …

14 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the cessation of funding for NHS continuing care in the community, how much it will cost (a) it over the next five years to provide support to people who were given a guarantee of continuing funding and (b) annually for (i) local authorities, (ii) NHS boards and (iii) indivi…

Answer · Shona Robison: NHS continuing healthcare has never been subject to a specific funding stream, and no funding has ceased as a consequence of our publication of new guidance. At the latest census (March 2015) there were 1,545 people in receipt of NHS continuing healthcare. 1,…

14 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many patients have received support from and (b) what funding it provided for NHS continuing care in the community in each year since 2005-06.

Answer · Shona Robison: NHS continuing healthcare has never been subject to a specific funding stream. Rather, healthcare is provided by NHS boards from their overall funding allocation as provided by the Scottish Government. Information on how many people received NHS continuing he…

14 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the cessation of funding for NHS continuing care in the community, what transitional arrangements it put in place for patients applying for support before the funding ceased; what discussions it had with organisations representing people with long-term conditions who might h…

Answer · Shona Robison: NHS continuing healthcare has never been subject to a specific funding stream, and no funding has ceased as a consequence of our publication of new guidance. Patients did not "apply" for funding or support under previous arrangements – their needs were assess…

14 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government by how much income from grants and fees for the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives is expected to reduce in 2015-16; which of the centre's teams the budget reduction will impact on, and what assessment it has made of how this might impact on the support that the centre provides to…

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: As a part of NHS Health Scotland the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives is funded through the budget allocation provided by the Scottish Government. The centre does not derive income from grants or fees.

14 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendation in the report, Review of Basic Medical Education in Scotland, for what reason it has not introduced a graduate medical course.

Answer · Shona Robison: While some recommendations made in Sir Kenneth Calman's report have been implemented, including 55 extra medical undergraduate places in Scottish medical schools from 2007-08, introduction of a graduate entry course in Scotland was put on hold because of emer…

6 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a consultation on the proposed new GP contract before concluding a new agreement.

Answer · Shona Robison: The GP contract is formulated through a process of bilateral discussion, and agreement, between the Scottish General Practitioners Committee and the Scottish Government. As part of the wider transformation of primary care the Scottish Government is inviting e…

6 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government (a) what sites, (b) what partnerships and (c) how many patients are involved in the pilot GP practice clusters that it has announced.

Answer · Shona Robison: A Stronger Scotland: The Government’s Programme for Scotland 2015-16 referred to 10 primary and community care test sites which will be used to inform service reform. Those sites specifically mentioned with the Programme for Government are examples of: Work …

6 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will require all NHS boards to undertake a comprehensive risk assessment of general practices.

Answer · Shona Robison: Every NHS board has a statutory duty to provide, or secure the provision of, primary medical services to meet their patient populations’ reasonable needs. Assessing the robustness and resilience of general practice already forms part of that on-going process …

6 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will conduct a workload survey of (a) general practice and (b) other primary care.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government is actively considering workload as part of the Scottish GP contract negotiations for 2017.

6 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many medical retainer posts have been (a) available, (b) funded and (c) filled in each of the last five years.

Answer · Shona Robison: The GP retainer scheme is intended to help doctors under the age of 55, with well-founded reasons for not making a substantive current commitment to working in general practice, to maintain the skills and confidence working within a practice to enable them to…

6 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people it has funded to undertake graduate conversion courses to a medical degree.

Answer · Shona Robison: As part of its strategic approach towards achieving a high performing and sustainable NHSScotland, the Scottish Government is exploring a range of options to increase the medical workforce supply to meet the future needs of patients.

6 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many places it has funded for NHS trained staff seeking to return to nursing and allied healthcare and medical professions in each of the last five years and where.

Answer · Shona Robison: In the last five years the Scottish Government has provided the following support for return to practice programmes: We have recently announced investment of £450,000 over the next three years for nursing and midwifery return to practice programmes. This wil…

6 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the remit is of the pharmacy posts that it announced would be made to support general practice.

Answer · Shona Robison: The primary role of the general practice based clinical pharmacist will be to work with patient groups identified by the health board as being a priority to support care pathways in the community. This will include patients with multiple and complex condition…

6 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the codes and resulting requirements on the Scottish Ambulance Service are for interhospital transfers.

Answer · Shona Robison: An inter-hospital transfer (IHT) is defined as a request to move a patient from one hospital to another. In 2014-15, the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) handled 95,258 IHTs. Like all ambulance activity they are categorised into emergency, urgent and routine …

6 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will bring forward a no-fault compensation scheme for medical injury.

Answer · Shona Robison: Since the answer given to question S4W-20593 on 4 April 2014 by the then Cabinet Secretary, Alex Neil MSP, we have been exploring the complexities of the scope, shape and development of a no-fault compensation scheme for Scotland. Careful consideration is bei…

6 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it will apply Conclusion 2 of the interim report of the expert group on mesh implants to dealing with adverse events.

Answer · Shona Robison: The expert group on transvaginal mesh implants will work directly with medical directors to develop recording and reporting of adverse events and in addition will take account of the Scottish Government's work to consider alternative methods for the capture o…

6 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will announce the (a) remit and (b) chair of the review of aspects of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government wants the review of the inclusion of learning disability and autism spectrum disorder within the definition of mental disorder under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 to be genuinely participative and to involv…

6 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will monitor patients to be confined to long-stay wards who, prior to June 2015, would have been eligible for continuing care in the community, who are seeking a transfer to England so that they can apply for continuing care in the community.

Answer · Shona Robison: England and Scotland have applied different systems for a number of years regarding NHS continuing healthcare and free personal care. The Scottish Government is not monitoring cross border movement in terms of NHS continuing healthcare neither is it monitorin…

26 Sep 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to protect patients' privacy and ensure that apps promoted as NHS Apps are safe.

Answer · Shona Robison: The applications designed specifically for mobile devices used in NHS boards are treated no differently from any other application or service and should be risk assessed and tested at board level or nationally prior to being officially released. The apps pres…

26 Sep 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether every NHS board has carried out a privacy impact study and, if so, whether these are publicly available.

Answer · Shona Robison: Boards should routinely undertake privacy impact assessments and/or information risk assessments as outlined in the NHSS Information Security Policy Framework. The Scottish Government does not compile these and there is no central list. It is a matter for eac…

23 Sep 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will continue the Monitoring and Evaluation of Scotland's Alcohol Strategy after 2016-17.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The Scottish Government is currently working on the next phase of the Alcohol Framework and as part of that work consideration will be given to which monitoring and evaluation arrangements will be most appropriate.

10 Sep 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether and, if so, when it will publish a consultative draft of the social responsibility levy under the Alcohol etc. (Scotland) Act 2010 and begin the consultation required under section 15(3) of the Act.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government have implemented a wide range of measures to tackle alcohol misuse in our Alcohol Framework. We are currently working on the next phase of the framework to build on the progress made to date and intend to introduce it in 2016. A soci…