Jim Hume

9 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the vacancy rate has been for psychologists in A&E departments in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Shona Robison: Information on the vacancy rate for psychologists in A&E departments, broken down by NHS Scotland health board, is not centrally held. The Scottish Government has announced an additional £150 million for mental health services over the next five years. As pa…

9 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the vacancy rate for (a) psychologists, (b) liaison psychologists and (c) consultant psychologists has been in each NHS board in each of the last five years.

Answer · Shona Robison: Information on the vacancy rate of all applied psychologists being advertised within psychology services in each NHSScotland health board is provided from September 2011 to December 2015 in Table 1. Information on vacancy rates of (b) liaison psychologists a…

9 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people aged under 18 have been admitted to A&E in each NHS board for (a) self-harm and (b) other psychiatric conditions in each of the last five years.

Answer · Shona Robison: Patients are considered to attend A&E rather than admitted to A&E. The national source of A&E information is the Information Services Division (ISD) A&E data mart. Within the A&E data mart the facility exists to record attendances at A&E due to self harm and …

8 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29493 by Margaret Burgess on 4 February 2016, what percentage of (a) social landlords and (b) private home owners has used Home Energy Scotland advice centres in each year since 2007-08.

Answer · Margaret Burgess: The Scottish Government funds the Energy Saving Trust annually to provide a range of advice and support on domestic energy efficiency. This includes the Home Energy Scotland (HES) advice service. The following table details the percentage of private home own…

8 Feb 2016 · Topical Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reports of a 50% increase in households requesting financial assistance to pay fuel and heating bills.

4 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4O-05208 by Michael Matheson on 6 January 2015 (Official Report, c. 6), how many such incidents there are each year, and what proportion of all police incidents this represents.

Answer · Michael Matheson: I have been advised by Police Scotland that this information is not held centrally.

4 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much police time is spent each year on attending incidents involving people with potential mental health problems.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government does not hold this information. This is a matter for Police Scotland.

3 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it will publish the revised conservation regulations to control the killing of wild salmon and what plans it has to consult (a) the River Tweed commissioners and (b) other stakeholders once publication takes place.

Answer · Aileen McLeod: The regulations were laid on Tuesday 23 February 2016 following extensive consultation and stakeholder engagement: www.gov.scot/Topics/marine/Salmon-Trout-Coarse/fishreform.

2 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether secondary appointments have been delayed in NHS Lanarkshire's pain services due to the intake of new chronic pain patients since April 2015.

Answer · Maureen Watt: This information is not held centrally. The Scottish Government expects all patients to be seen within the most appropriate timescale determined clinically in each case.

2 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether staffing levels in NHS Lanarkshire's conventional chronic pain services have been increased since April 2015.

Answer · Maureen Watt: This information is not held centrally. 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, it is a matter for …

2 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether there has been an increase in the number of new chronic pain patient referrals to NHS Lanarkshire's pain clinics from April 2015 and, if so, what increase.

Answer · Maureen Watt: NHS National Services Scotland’s Information Services Division plan to publish on 8 March 2016 developmental data collected from all NHS boards for quarter ending December 2015. Data collected prior to this date are not considered to be sufficiently robust an…

2 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-28817 by Maureen Watt on 14 December 2015, what discussions it has had with each NHS board regarding the waiting times target for hepatitis C treatment.

Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-27598 on 6 October 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/parliamentarybu…

2 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors waiting times for hepatitis C treatment.

Answer · Shona Robison: Information on waiting times for hepatitis C is not collected centrally as acute hospital waiting times are collected at specialty level only and not by condition. Most patients with hepatitis C requiring hospital care will be seen within the specialty of gas…

2 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-25778 by Maureen Watt on 8 June 2015, whether it will use the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Framework to establish a workgroup to consider how the elimination of hepatitis C as a public health concern can be achieved.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The Scottish Health Protection Network’s Sexual Health and Blood Borne Viruses Group already comprises a range of groups looking at delivery of the framework in Scotland, including our work on hepatitis C. These groups include clinical experts, public health …

1 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what proportion of (i) clinical and (ii) surgical readmissions within seven days there have/has been in each NHS board in each year since 2010.

Answer · Shona Robison: Information that is provided in the following tables shows the number of emergency readmissions within seven days of the original admission, for each calendar year from 2010 to September 2015, broken down by NHS board of residence and surgical and medical spe…

1 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-26834 by Shona Robison on 12 August 2015, what it considers to be a "statistically high" rate of readmission for (a) surgical and (b) medical specialties.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government considers hospital standardised readmission rates every three months, on both a national and a hospital basis. The measures are rates of surgical readmissions within seven days, rates of surgical readmissions with 28 days, rates of med…

1 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS boards that recorded "statistically high" readmission rates for (a) surgical and (b) medical specialties in each year since 2010.

Answer · Shona Robison: In 2011-12, the Scottish Government wrote to NHS Highland regarding surgical and medical hospital standardised readmission rates at Belford Hospital which had significantly higher than expected levels (greater than three standard deviations from the Scottish …

1 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide a substantive answer to question S4W-28109, which received a holding answer on 19 November 2015, and what the reason is for the delay in providing such a response.

Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-28109 on 16 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/parliamentarybu…

1 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) clinical and (b) surgical readmissions were recorded each month in 2015, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Shona Robison: Information is provided in the following tables on the total number of continuous inpatient stays as well as the number of emergency readmission continuous inpatient stays within 28 days. A) The number of continuous inpatient stays for medical specialties …

29 Jan 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many alcohol brief interventions there have been in each year since 2010-11, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Maureen Watt: Information on alcohol brief interventions is published on the Information Services Division website, which is available at https://isdscotland.scot.nhs.uk/Health-Topics/Drugs-and-Alcohol-Misuse/Publications/2015-06-30/2015-06-30-ABI2014-15-Report.pdf?280407…

29 Jan 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how the £50 million for mental health services will be spent, broken down by (a) NHS board, (b) type of treatment and (c) group of professionals who will receive the money.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Last year we announced additional investment of £100 million to improve mental health services over five years. The Draft Budget 2016-17 provides a further £50 million, resulting in a total package of £150 million to 2019-20. As we announced in January 2016,…

29 Jan 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what guidelines it has provided to NHS boards regarding levels of alcohol brief interventions.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The NHS Board Local Delivery Plan Guidance 2016-17 was published as a directors letter on Scotland's Health on the Web and issued to NHS boards on 13 January 2016. NHS boards were advised on 27 January 2016 that for alcohol brief interventions both the nation…

27 Jan 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether NHS boards (a) have the right to exceed and (b) are exceeding their individual hepatitis C treatment targets.

Answer · Maureen Watt: NHS boards have the right to exceed the treatment targets set for them. We are aware that some boards are currently on course to exceed treatment targets but we need to await the full year figures for 2015-16 as treatment rates vary across the course of the y…

27 Jan 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to introduce opt-out hepatitis C testing for all new prisoners in line with the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Framework 2015-2012 Update and what the timescale is for implementation.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The Scottish Government will work with NHS boards and the Scottish Prison Service to set appropriate timetables according to each board’s specific circumstances. Currently, no plans or timescales have been set.

27 Jan 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4O-04930 by Maureen Watt on 10 December 2015 (Official Report, c. 5), what discussions it has had with the Hepatitis C Treatment and Therapies Group on reviewing the annual hepatitis C treatment target, and whether the group recommended revising the ta…

Answer · Maureen Watt: The Hepatitis C Treatment and Therapies Group met on 17 December 2015 and decided to keep the target of 1,500 treatment initiates per year. The group will regularly review the target as new therapies become available.

27 Jan 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government by which year it expects Scotland to have eradicated hepatitis C as a public health concern within the framework of its current annual hepatitis C treatment target.

Answer · Maureen Watt: Given the scale of hepatitis C in Scotland and the high cost of the new therapies available, it is not straightforward to create a model which would accurately set a year by which we expect to see hepatitis C eliminated. NHS boards are working hard to elimina…

26 Jan 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of savings made by private landlords who have used Home Energy Scotland advice centres and helplines.

Answer · Margaret Burgess: The Scottish Government funds the Energy Saving Trust (EST) annually to provide a range of advice and support on domestic energy efficiency. This includes the Home Energy Scotland advice service (HES). Part of this funding is targeted at providing in-depth su…

26 Jan 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on Home Energy Scotland advice centres in each year since 2007-08, and how that money is used.

Answer · Margaret Burgess: The Scottish Government funds the Energy Saving Trust (EST) annually to provide a range of advice and support on domestic energy efficiency. This includes the Home Energy Scotland advice service. Our funding to Home Energy Scotland: Provides free and impart…

26 Jan 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of private landlords has used Home Energy Scotland advice centres in each year since 2007-08.

Answer · Margaret Burgess: The Scottish Government funds the Energy Saving Trust annually to provide a range of advice and support on domestic energy efficiency. This includes the Home Energy Scotland advice service. Part of this funding is targeted at providing in-depth support to pri…

26 Jan 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the percentage of NHS (a) brownfield and (b) greenfield sites that could be used for social housing.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government does not hold this information as it is not collected centrally.