Miles Briggs

23 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether its forthcoming mental health strategy will make any recommendations in relation to perinatal mental health.

Answer · Maureen Watt: Our engagement paper “Mental Health in Scotland – a 10 Year Vision” made clear that one of the key proposed early actions in the next Strategy is perinatal Mental Health. We are currently finalising the Strategy.

23 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether community alarms or telecare services will be included in its forthcoming feasibility study on the introduction of free personal care for some people under the age of 65.

Answer · Shona Robison: We have committed to undertaking a feasibility study in 2017 into the extension of free personal care to those people under the age of 65 with a diagnosis of dementia. Although community alarms do not count as personal care, no decision has been made as to th…

23 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any evidence that community alarms and telecare services can reduce the demand on other health and social care services by providing a preventative service.

Answer · Shona Robison: Community alarms and/or telecare have been in use in their most basic form for over 40 years, with the latest Scottish Government statistics showing that over 126,000 people are being supported at home with telecare. In 2006, following the well-documented ben…

23 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what research it has carried out on whether charging for community alarms or telecare services acts as a disincentive to the take-up of these services.

Answer · Shona Robison: The decision on whether to charge for a non-residential social care service is a matter for local government, and is subject to charging guidelines issued by the Convention for Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA). See http://www.cosla.gov.uk/about/how-we-work/…

22 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the Edinburgh Tram Inquiry will complete its work.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Edinburgh Tram Inquiry is independent of Scottish Government. Lord Hardie and his team are determined to conduct a thorough and wide-ranging investigation into the reasons behind the Edinburgh Tram Project delays and cost escalations and to deliver a rep…

21 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many service improvement groups on chronic pain there are in each NHS board, and how much each costs to run.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: This information is not held centrally. The primary aim of the Service Improvement Groups (SIGs) was to bring pain services across Scotland in line with the Scottish Service Model for Chronic Pain. Scottish Government funding was made available to NHS Boards…

21 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what input (a) MSPs and (b) other stakeholders will have into the (i) remit and (ii) membership of the proposed National Advisory Committee on Chronic Pain.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: It is envisaged that the National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain (NACCP) will maintain continuity and consistency of stakeholder involvement through cross membership from the National Chronic Pain Improvement Group (which came to its natural end, based o…

21 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the annual (a) salary is of the National Chronic Pain Co-ordinator and (b) running cost is of (i) the office of the National Chronic Pain Co-ordinator and (ii) its other chronic pain groups.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: The incumbent National Chronic Pain Co-ordinator is employed by NHS Fife. The Scottish Government provides reimbursement to the Board for protected work time via a Service Level Agreement (SLA). To deliver this service, NHS Fife provides a member of staff at …

21 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time for treatment at a chronic pain clinic has been in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: This information is not held centrally. Data is collected quarterly from all Boards for waiting times for a first appointment/assessment at the pain clinic/service and waiting times for a first pain psychology services appointment. These data (both adjusted a…

18 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that all people with psoriatic arthritis receive an annual GP check.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: The Scottish Government provides policies, frameworks and resources to NHS Boards to allow them to deliver services that meet the needs of their local populations. It is the responsibility of NHS Boards to ensure that they follow locally agreed and national c…

18 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that all people with suspected psoriatic arthritis are referred to a rheumatologist.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: The Scottish Government provides policies, frameworks and resources to NHS Boards to allow them to deliver services that meet the needs of their local populations. The Scottish Government expects healthcare professionals to follow locally agreed and national …

18 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it will take forward each of the priorities for its new mental health strategy that have been suggested by the Mental Welfare Commission in its 2015-16 annual report.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The Scottish Government welcomes the Mental Welfare Commission’s 2015-16 Annual Report, published 8 September 2016. We have noted the six priorities suggested by the Mental Welfare Commission, which are as follows: To set a new target to reduce the huge disp…

16 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-01305 by Maureen Watt on 22 July 2016, whether it now has the information available for 2016, and, if so, whether it will publish this.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The report Prescribing Statistics - Medicines used in Mental Health and the accompanying data sets are published by ISD. ISD have indicated that they are planning on publishing the 2015-16 anti-depressant figures in mid-December. The data will be published o…

15 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-04441 by Shona Robison on 14 November 2016 and, in light of the information not being held centrally, whether it plans to begin collating this information centrally, given that information on equivalent events in NHS England is readily available.

Answer · Shona Robison: Following a detailed review of NHS Ayrshire& Arran’s adverse event management in the spring of 2012, the then Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy instructed Healthcare Improvement Scotland to develop a national framework and a programm…

15 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 to take account of Article 17 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Answer · Maureen Watt: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-04703 on 23 November 2016 which sets out the work the Scottish Government is currently undertaking to enhance rights-based practice under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003. All answers …

15 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 13 July 2016, 1,000 new paramedics to be trained, whether it will set out how the training will be delivered, and what its response is to reported concerns that the trainees will (a) receive less training than ambulance technicians and (b) not be trained (…

Answer · Shona Robison: Through additional funding from the Scottish Government, the Scottish Ambulance Service are training an additional 1000 Paramedics over the next five years to provide frontline care in Scotland. This year’s recruitment plan will see 200 candidates undertake a…

14 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many undergraduate (a) pre-clinical and (b) clinical places were funded at each of the five Scottish medical schools by the Scottish Funding Council in each academic year from 2006-07 for students from (i) Scotland and (ii) the EU.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The following table shows the number of funded places allocated to each medical school from 2006-07 to 2016-17. Funded places are not allocated separately for Scottish and EU students. The places can be used for Scottish, rest of UK (RUK) and other EU stude…

10 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how representatives of service users on integration joint boards and joint monitoring committees are supported to effectively deliver their roles.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government has issued guidance on the Roles, Responsibilities and Membership of the Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) which is applicable to Integration Joint Monitoring Committees (IJMC). The guidance states that the IJB's and IJMC must ensure tha…

10 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it is ensuring that representatives of service users on integration joint boards and joint monitoring committees are reflective of the local population.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government has issued guidance on the Roles, Responsibilities and Membership of the Integration Joint Board (IJB) which is also applicable to Integration Joint Monitoring Committees (IJMC). The guidance contains the principles which should be con…

10 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how representatives of service users on integration joint boards and joint monitoring committees are able to represent the range of user experiences.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government has issued guidance on the appointment of stakeholder members, including service users, on Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) which is applicable to Integration Joint Monitoring Committees (IJMC). This guidance states that stakeholder mem…

10 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the recommendation in the Audit Scotland report, NHS in Scotland 2016, that it should ensure that people who access health services “are involved in making decisions and receive better information about potential treatments”, how it supports co-production in health and social…

Answer · Shona Robison: Health and Social Care integration takes a person centred approach to developing local services with the involvement of the people who use those services. The Scottish Government is currently considering the strategic way forward on co-production including ho…

9 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure that patients with advanced kidney cancer, who are not suitable for a TKI (tyrosine kinase inhibitor) therapy, or everolimus, can receive active treatment for their disease.

Answer · Shona Robison: In Scotland we have a clear route for new drugs to be appraised through the long standing Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC). Where SMC accept medicines for routine use in Scotland Health Boards are expected to make the medicine or its equivalent available…

9 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to ensure that the Scottish Medicines Consortium adopts a pro-innovation outlook so that cancer patients can benefit from new and promising classes of therapy.

Answer · Shona Robison: In recent years, the Scottish Government have made significant reforms and investment to improve access to newly licensed medicines. However, I do think that more can be done to build on the progress made to date which is why I asked Dr Brian Montgomery to co…

4 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made toward introducing a VOICES survey, as set out by the Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health in a member's business debate on 12 May 2015 (Offical Report, c.80).

Answer · Aileen Campbell: The Scottish Government is working with NHS Lothian to test approaches to identify how best to capture feedback from bereaved families, including the VOICES survey. Subject to the necessary ethics approval, this work will commence in Spring 2017. This is expe…

4 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Chief Executive Letter, CEL 12, which relates to hospice funding, will apply to new integration joint boards

Answer · Shona Robison: In 2015, the year before integration went live, the Scottish Government published statutory guidance on strategic commissioning setting out that each Partnership's strategic commissioning plan should be based upon a Strategic Needs Assessment of local people,…

4 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much the NHS has spent on (a) adult independent hospices services and (b) services provided by third sector organisations in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Shona Robison: This information is not centrally held in the form requested. Information on NHS board expenditure is published by NHS Information Services Division (ISD) on an annual basis in the Scottish Health Service Costs Report (often referred to as the ‘Cost Book’). …

4 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to update and/or reissue the Chief Executive Letter, CEL 12, to each integration joint board and, if so, when.

Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-04512 on 17 November 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.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusine…

4 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many times the National Implementation and Advisory Group for the Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative Care has met since the publication of the framework in December 2015, and when it will next meet.

Answer · Shona Robison: The National Implementation and Advisory Group (NIAG) for the Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative Care (SFA) has met once since the publication of the Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative and End of Life Care was published in December 2015. S…

3 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-00648 by Shona Robison on 23 June 2016, whether the expert group to lead the review of national NHS targets is now in place and, if so, who its members are; on what dates it has met; when the full terms of the review will be published, and how stake…

Answer · Shona Robison: The expert group met for the first time on 7 November 2016. The group is made up of experts from the organisations listed in the following table. The group considered its remit which is based on the News Release of 9 September 2016 http://news.gov.scot/news/n…

2 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many adverse events have taken place in the NHS since 1999, broken down by (a) NHS board, (b) category and (c) type of event.

Answer · Shona Robison: The information requested is not held centrally as individual NHS Boards are responsible and accountable for managing their own clinical governance processes. Adverse event reviews are carried out to determine whether there are learning points to improve th…