Miles Briggs

8 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when a national clinical network will be in place to support development of the National Child Psychiatry Inpatient Unit and community services, linking with multiagency partners across Scotland.

Answer · Clare Haughey: There are no current plans to establish a National Child Psychiatry Clinical Network. I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29736 on 18 June 2020 for information about plans for a Managed Clinical Network for LD Child and Adolescent Mental Health S…

8 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what provision is currently in place for children and young people with a learning disability who require inpatient psychiatric care.

Answer · Clare Haughey: NHS National Services Scotland has agreements in place with NHS England for cross border admissions to specialist Learning Disability Adolescent Psychiatric Units for those with severe and profound learning disabilities. These will remain in place until the n…

8 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in establishing a specialist adolescent learning disability CAMHS unit in NHS Lothian.

Answer · Clare Haughey: NHS Lothian was selected to develop proposals for the national Adolescent Learning Disability (LD) Unit following a tendering process. The LD Service proposal was considered by the Corporate Finance Network and NHS Board Directors of Finance in November and …

8 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in adapting and up-skilling the National Child Psychiatry Inpatient Unit at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde so that children with all degrees of learning disability can access inpatient care.

Answer · Clare Haughey: Options appraisals have been completed by architects and capital planners, to consider what adaptations and physical environment changes are required. The National Child Psychiatry Inpatient Unit already admits children with intellectual disabilities and ment…

5 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) NHS boards and (b) local authorities are currently able to carry out routine testing, and what support it is providing to enable them to do so.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to question number S5W-29356 on 10 July 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybu…

5 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how local authorities will be able to process all the COVID-19 tests each week that will be required to routinely test all care home workers and residents.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29356 on 10 July 2020. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28…

5 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the portal for local authorities to order COVID-19 tests will be available.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: We are continuing to work closely with Board Chief Executives and Directors of Public Health to ensure access to resources to increase testing capacity including Mobile Testing Units and the UK Government Social Care Testing Portal. The Social Care Testing P…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on young people’s mental health.

Answer · Clare Haughey: The Scottish Government is taking steps to develop a robust understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on young people’s mental health and to respond to these. The Mental Health Research Advisory Group has been established to monitor and interpret research deve…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support has been provided during the COVID-19 outbreak to prisoners who are bi-polar prisoners, and what impact this has had on prison staff protocols.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows: NHS Health Boards are responsible for the treatment and care of those with mental conditions in Scotland’s prisons, this inclu…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether every school will have a mental health counsellor in place before the start of the 2020-21 term.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29482 on 9 June 2020. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many drug-related deaths there have been during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: National Records Scotland (NRS) are responsible for publishing the Scottish drug death statistics on an annual basis. The last publication made by NRS was in July 2019. We are currently awaiting details from them with regards to the date of publication for t…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the average time has been for people to receive COVID-19 results each day under the Test and Trace programme.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The average total turnaround time for NHS labs is 19 hours. This measure is the time from when the patient swab sample is taken by the clinician to when the final laboratory result is available. Total turnaround time includes the time taken for a patient’s sw…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when churches will be allowed to reopen as part of the process of easing the COVID-19 lockdown.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: We acknowledge the outstanding contribution of Scotland’s faith communities, including our Christian Communities, and recognise the difficulty in being unable to come together or attend places of worship during this challenging time. However, we know faith co…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the easing of the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions will have on care homes, and what guidance it has issued.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The phased resumption of visiting and communal activity in care homes was referred to in ‘Scotland’s route map through and out of the crisis’. On the 25 th June, the Scottish Government published the Coronavirus (COVID-19): adult care home visiting guidance. …

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to provide long-term support to local media outlets.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government has made available an additional £3 million marketing spend in Scottish newspapers across the rest of the year. This will be targeted where it is most needed, including local newspapers, to support them during the COVID-19 crisis. We …

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it had with NHS boards following the Silver Swan exercise regarding the distribution of national pandemic stockpiles.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Following Exercise Silver Swan, NHS Boards were provided with the exercise report by the Scottish Government to inform local planning. This included comment on national pandemic flu stockpile distribution. NHS National Services Scotland, who have the lead res…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what work it has undertaken regarding the costs to establish a national care service, and whether it will publish this information.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: We have not undertaken work to establish the costs associated with a national care service.  

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of considering the establishment of a national care service in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, whether it is considering establishing a national general practice service and, if so, what work it has carried out regarding this.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government is not considering the establishment of a "national general practice service". Since the inception of the NHS, general practice has developed as an independent contractor model. After consideration and wide discussion the Scottish Gov…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-28644 by Clare Haughey on 14 May 2020, whether it will provide an update by publishing the information requested regarding the number of excess deaths on each day since 20 April 2020.

Answer · Clare Haughey: Number of “excess” deaths which occurred by day between 20 April 2020 and 31 May 2020 compared with “what would normally have been expected” based on the previous 2 years.  Deaths in 2020 Annual average deaths from 2000 to 2019 Difference: "excess" dea…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what accommodation has been provided for NHS staff during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: 467 members of staff from Health Boards were placed in temporary accommodation, organised by the Health Boards, between the start of lockdown and 1 July 2020. The accommodation provided to staff included hotels, self-catering accommodation and residences. Tw…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many communications have been received by the NHS Scotland confidential alert line in each month since it was established.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: The Scottish Government has published information on the number of calls to the NHS Scotland confidential alert line since the service was established on 2 April 2013. This along with further information on the service, as well as detailed reports available f…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which cancer screening lab teams have not been used during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: During the COVID-19 outbreak all cancer screening lab staff have continued to work on a variety of activities, including ongoing processing of tests which were returned prior to the pause of the screening programmes and assisting with testing for COVID-19. T…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many attacks on NHS staff have been reported in each month since January 2020.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government does not hold information centrally on attacks against NHS Scotland staff. NHS Boards have delegated responsibility as the employer. Figures on violence and aggression towards NHS Scotland staff are collated by Health Boards, in line w…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the capacity is for carrying out tests at COVID-19 testing sites, as opposed to laboratory test processing capacity, broken down by (a) NHS Scotland (i) fixed and (ii) mobile testing sites and (b) UK Government (i) fixed and (ii) mobile testing sites.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: We now have active maximum weekday NHS testing capacity for around 8,600 tests a day, and weekend capacity of around 6,900 tests a day, with capacity for testing in all 14 NHS Health Boards. The NHS testing capacity figure is supported by non-NHS labs includi…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions ministers have had to develop a long-term solution to providing free parking at NHS sites that have privately-owned car parks.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government introduced free car parking on all NHS owned car parks in December 2008, a policy which has saved patients, staff and visitors over £41 million since it was introduced. The Scottish Government is actively pursuing a long term solution…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what instructions or advice have been given to NHS staff regarding speaking to the media.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Any policies on media handling would be a matter for NHSScotland. Boards as individual organisations to consider locally.  

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Scottish Care regarding the cost of establishing a national care service in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: We are in regular written and phone contact with Scottish Care on a range of matters relating to Covid-19. However, we have not entered into discussions with any organisations in relation to establishing a national care service.

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government on what dates ministers saw the plans produced by regional resilience chairs following the Silver Swan exercise.

Answer · John Swinney: Ministers did not see resilience partnership plans following exercise Silver Swan. Regional Resilience Partnerships plans are not routinely shared with Scottish Government Ministers.

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what briefings ministers have received regarding a potential second wave of COVID-19.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government is monitoring closely and regularly publishing data on surveillance and our Test and Protect system that will give an early warning of local and national increases in Covid-19 cases. In addition, modelling undertaken by Scottish Govern…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people with no power of attorney have had a DNACPR (do not attempt CPR) order agreed by ministers since 1 January 2020.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29407 on 10 June 2020. 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/parliamentarybusiness/…