Jim Hume

2 Nov 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the reasons are for the difference between the success rates in meeting the 2015 target for achieving the Scottish Housing Quality Standard reported to the Scottish Housing Regulator by social landlords and those recorded by the Scottish House Condition Survey.

Answer · Margaret Burgess: The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) is the Scottish Government’s official measure of house condition but it is the responsibility of the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) to monitor landlords’ performance against the Scottish Housing Quality Standard ta…

2 Nov 2015 · Topical Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reports that nearly 5,000 children will be homeless or in temporary accommodation at Christmas.

29 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-26331 by Shona Robison on 13 July 2015, what information it has on how many (a) patients and (b) visitors travelled (i) up to 30, (ii) from 31 to 60 and (iii) more than 60 miles by road to reach the site outwith their local NHS board.

Answer · Shona Robison: The information requested is not collected centrally.

29 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-26331 by Shona Robison on 13 July 2015, whether it will provide a breakdown of the patients admitted outwith their NHS board area by referring NHS board.

Answer · Shona Robison: The number of patients admitted to a hospital outwith their health board of residence broken down by health board of residence and year is shown in the following table. The figures below for out of area treatment includes patients treated at other hospitals s…

29 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-26331 by Shona Robison on 13 July 2015, how many people referred outwith their local NHS board have been reimbursed for their travel expenses, broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) rate of reimbursement in each year since 2010-11.

Answer · Shona Robison: This is a matter for individual health boards, and the information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

29 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-27826 by Shona Robison on 28 October 2015, whether it will provide the data requested on the instances of overcrowding in hospitals.

Answer · Shona Robison: As there is currently no standard set of definitions for crowding, data on crowding, is not available. The Emergency Department Capacity Management Guidance, issued in partnership with the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in September, will support NHS bo…

29 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government further to the answer to question S4W-27774 by Jamie Hepburn on 22 October 2015, on what date it will publish the follow-up to the report, and for what reason it was not published in the summer.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: We commissioned the Mental Health Foundation and Voices of Experience to undertake the 10 year follow up report. We have been working with the Mental Health Foundation to address the delays in publishing and can now assure you this will be published by Christ…

29 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many GP training places there have been in each NHS board since 2011-12 and where these were located, broken down by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation decile.

Answer · Shona Robison: The information is not available in the format requested. NHS Education for Scotland is responsible for the training placements of GPs in Scotland but it does not hold information on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. It has provided the following i…

29 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many GP practices in each NHS board have closed their patient lists to new patients in each year since 2011-12, also broken down by reason.

Answer · Shona Robison: Circumstances will arise where a practice experiences capacity issues and is unable to routinely accept new patients onto its list. We expect health boards to work with practices as constructively and as flexibly as is appropriate to help manage the situation.

29 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which GP practices have come under the control of their NHS board in each year since 2011-12, also broken down by reason.

Answer · Shona Robison: There are 43 GP practices run directly by health boards, making up a small percentage of the 987 practices across Scotland. Arrangements under section 2(C) of The National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 which allows GP practices to be directly run by the…

28 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with East Renfrewshire Council regarding the local authority’s decision to close one of its daycare centres for disabled children; what its position is on the decision, and what support it will provide to the service users should the centre close.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government has not had any discussions with East Renfrewshire Council regarding this as it is a matter for the local authority. It is the local authorities’ responsibility to set their own priorities in the delivery of local services. The Scottis…

28 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many daycare centres for disabled children there are in each local authority area, and what information it has regarding how many face possible closure because of budget reductions.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: There is no centrally held information on the number of day centres across Scotland.

28 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether any so-called GP Deep End practices have taken up an NHS Education for Scotland Health Inequalities Fellowship.

Answer · Shona Robison: There has been a successful appointment to the West Region NHS Education for Scotland Health Inequalities Fellowship. The clinical component of this Fellowship takes place in the homeless practice, which is represented in the Deep End Group of practices, with…

28 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government (a) what the budget has been and (b) how many people have applied for a (i) Rural Fellowship, (ii) Medical Education Fellowship, (iii) Health Inequality Fellowship and (iv) Occupational Medicine Fellowship in general practice through NHS Education for Scotland in each year since 2007-08.

Answer · Shona Robison: I have asked Caroline Lamb, Chief Executive of NHS Education for Scotland to respond directly in writing to the member with a detailed answer to these questions.

28 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will to provide a breakdown of GP funding (a) in cash terms, (b) in real terms, also in the prices of the previous year and (c) as a percentage of the NHS budget in each year since 2007-08.

Answer · Shona Robison: The amount of expenditure on GP services in cash terms since 2007-08 and the percentage share of operating costs has been: Cash Terms 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Primary Medical Services 704.61 701.00 729.31 741.40 74…

27 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to focus more resources and support on downstream activities rather than dealing with issues upstream, in light of the findings in Long-term Monitoring of Health Inequalities: October 2014 Report.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The government recognises the need to take action upstream in line with the evidence to prevent health inequalities arising for example maximising household resources through the social wage continuing free personal care for the elderly, abolition of tuition …

27 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what it has done in response to the conclusions of the Ministerial Task Force on Health Inequalities in 2012 that "despite much commitment and resource, the scale of health inequalities had not reduced".

Answer · Shona Robison: 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. The government recognises that this problem…

27 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what explanation it can provide for the finding in Long-term Monitoring of Health Inequalities: October 2014 Report that adults in the most deprived areas were five times more likely to have below average mental wellbeing than those in the least deprived areas.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Ministerial Task Force on Health Inequalities was presented and accepted evidence that the fundamental causes of health inequalities are rooted in an unequal distribution of income, power and wealth, and that these causes influence the distribution of wid…

27 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the finding in Long-term Monitoring of Health Inequalities: October 2014 Report that healthy life expectancy at birth in the 10% most deprived areas in Scotland was 24.3 years lower than in the least deprived areas for men and 22.5 years lower for women.

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. The government recognises that this problem…

27 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost of locum cover has been for (a) nursing and midwifery staff, (b) consultants, (c) surgical staff and (d) radiologists in each NHS board in each year since 2010-11.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally, however for part (a) of the question, this information is publically available on the NHS Scotland Information Services Division (ISD) website: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workfor…

27 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many midwives were aged (a) up to 30, (b) from 31 to 40, (c) from 41 to 50 and (d) 51 and over as of 1 October 2015.

Answer · Shona Robison: Information on the number of midwifery staff in each age group across NHSScotland is published quarterly by National Services Scotland, Information Services Division (ISD). The latest information available is as at 30 June 2015 and can be found in the followi…

27 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many current (a) midwives have been in post and (b) midwife vacancies there have been for (i) up to and (ii) more than six months.

Answer · Shona Robison: Information on the number of midwifery staff in post and midwifery vacancies across NHSScotland is published by National Services Scotland, Information Services Division (ISD) and can be found in tables 1 and 2. Vacancy information is available for less than …

27 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its estimates are of the number of new midwives entering the profession in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17 and (c) 2017-18.

Answer · Shona Robison: Historical supply side analysis shows around 80% completion from midwifery pre-registration programmes after three to four years. I refer the member to his previous question S4W-28153 on 10 November 2015, which provides information on completion rates since 2…

27 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that a sufficient number of midwives is available.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government has developed a world-leading suite of workforce and workload planning tools. These mandatory tools enable evidence-based decision making on workforce and staffing establishments and are used by NHS boards to determine the number of nu…

27 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have (a) started and (b) completed a midwife training programme in each year since 2007-08.

Answer · Shona Robison: The following is a link to the Information Services Division (ISD) website which provides the relevant published data: https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2015-03-03/Student_intakes_and_students_in_training_S2014.xls The follow…

26 Oct 2015 · Topical Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Audit Scotland report, NHS in Scotland 2015.

22 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it will take to tackle problems in recruiting and retaining permanent staff in the NHS, as highlighted in the Audit Scotland report, NHS in Scotland 2015, and when.

Answer · Shona Robison: NHS Scotland boards are required to have the correct staff in place to meet the needs of the service locally and ensure high quality patient care. The Scottish Government works closely with all boards to support their staff recruitment efforts.

22 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings in the Audit Scotland report, NHS in Scotland 2015, that the NHS will not be able to provide services in the way that it currently does, and for what reasons it considers that these findings were reached.

Answer · Shona Robison: Audit Scotland’s report mirrors the Scottish Government's own assessment on the need for our NHS to evolve to meet the changing needs of Scotland’s people. The 2020 Vision for Health and Social Care sets out the challenges facing the NHS, which include demog…

22 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to adults with (a) learning disabilities and (b) mental health issues in care homes.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government is continuing to support people with learning disabilities living in care homes through the implementation of The keys to life in Scotland, and the development of a strategic plan, with identified outcomes to support the delivery of Th…

22 Oct 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what provisions there are for specialised support for people with dementia living in care homes.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government is enhancing specialist support for people in dementia living in care homes and continues to invest around £500,000 per year in developing the dementia workforce which includes training and supporting staff providing specialist support…