Parliamentary questions
Miles Briggs
4,209 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
11 Dec 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recent research by Marie Curie, the University of Edinburgh and King's College London in the report, The impact of population ageing on end-of-life care in Scotland: Population-based projections of place of death and recommendations for future service provision, how it plans…
Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Providing high quality, person centred care for people towards the end of life is an important priority for the Scottish Government. We want people to get the care and support that is right for them and enable them to stay in their local community for as lon…
6 Dec 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-26177 by Michael Matheson on 18 November 2019, by what date it expects (a) to have received all of the quotations from the specialist providers and (b) work on the installation of the sensors to (i) commence and (ii) be completed.
Answer · Michael Matheson: Transport Scotland expects to have received all quotations related to the installation of ice sensor equipment this month. Evaluation of quotations will take place in early January and equipment will be installed as soon as possible thereafter. In the meantim…
5 Dec 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it paid to the Digital Health Institute/Glasgow School of Art for organising workshops and a report on chronic pain in (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19 and (c) to date in 2019-20.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the Member to the answer to question S5W-26645 on 19 December 2019. The Chronic Pain Specialty Group workshops and report was commissioned as one part of the programme of twelve specialty groups, and there was no separation of costs for individual spe…
5 Dec 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it made available to the Digital Health Institute/Glasgow School of Art for organising workshops and reports on 12 NHS disciplines to aid the Scottish Access Collaborative’s plans in (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19 and (c) to date in 2019-20.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government have made the following funding available to the Digital Health Institute/Glasgow School of Art for organising workshops and reports on 12 NHS disciplines to aid the Scottish Access Collaborative’s plans in: (a) 2017-18 - Nil. (b) 20…
5 Dec 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it raised awareness among the public, NHS organisations and the voluntary sector regarding the extension of free personal care to people under 65 ahead of its implementation, and whether it has further plans to increase awareness of its availability to that age group.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Guidance on Free Personal Care was renewed to include the extension of free personal care and this was sent in December 2018 to COSLA, Chief Officers and Chief Finance Officers of Health and Social Care Partnerships, Chief Executives, Chief Finance Officers a…
5 Dec 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how much training health and social care staff in each local authority area have had in relation to the extension of free personal care to people under 65.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Funding was provided to cover expected loss of income from existing service users, demand from new service users, which may build up over time, payments for self funders in care homes and administration costs associated with the implementation of the policy, …
5 Dec 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it will allocate to local authorities to fund the extension of free personal care to people under 65 in 2020-21, and how it will ensure this money is spent wholly on people in that age group.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: We are working closely with Health and Social Care partnerships and COSLA to monitor the costs of the extension of the free personal care policy and this will help to inform future funding allocations. The Scottish Government will publish its spending plans …
5 Dec 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much each local authority received in the current financial year for the extension of free personal care to people under 65, and what information it has on how much of this has been used by each council so far.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The following table provides the financial allocation by Local Authority in 2019/20 for the extension of Free Personal Care to under 65s. Local Authority Allocation £m Aberdeen City 1.342 Aberdeenshire 1.385 Angus 0.592 Argyll & Bute 0.437 Clack…
5 Dec 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many people have applied for support under the extension of free personal care to people under 65 since it came into force, and how many have had applications rejected, broken down by local authority.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The level of need for social care support varies between local areas depending on population and other local factors. Social care support assessments carried out by local authorities include whether a person requires personal care elements. The Scottish Gover…
5 Dec 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provided to local authorities ahead of the extension of free personal care to people under 65, including on how the extra funding for this extension should be used.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Guidance on Free Personal Care was renewed to include the extension of free personal care and this was sent in December 2018 to COSLA, Chief Officers and Chief Finance Officers of Health and Social Care Partnerships, Chief Executives, Chief Finance Officers a…
5 Dec 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it carries out of the accuracy of the blood tests that are used to detect viruses, and whether the findings of this are available online.
Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Each NHS Board in Scotland has an executive responsibility to ensure safe and effective testing is carried out within its laboratories. NHS virology laboratories carry out rigorous evaluations prior to the introduction of all the tests to ensure they are bot…
4 Dec 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the research carried out by Dr Dale Bredesen, of the University of California, Los Angeles, into preventing and reversing cognitive decline.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government does not routinely comment on the work of individual researchers. Advances in dementia research require sustained global effort. Scotland has a wide range of researchers in this field and our commitment in Programme for Government to …
4 Dec 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what research it is supporting into the prevention of Alzheimer's disease and dementia, and what funding streams it has made available for researchers to access.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government funds the NHS Research Scotland Dementia and Neuro-progressive Research Network to support eligibly funded and commercial clinical studies hosted by the NHS in Scotland. Researchers based in Scotland can also apply for funding to the …
3 Dec 2019 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government about the UK and Ireland staging the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
28 Nov 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-26424 by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 November 2019, in light of the report, Findings of Scottish Specialist Pain Workforce Study, being provided to the meeting of the National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain on 26 June 2019, for what reason it will no…
Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: The Scottish Government committed to publishing the data provided by NHS Boards, which informed the report “Findings of Scottish Specialist Pain Workforce Study early in the New Year and we are on track to meet this commitment.
28 Nov 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-26424 by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 November 2019, which of its departments or units produced the survey and the subsequent report, Findings of Scottish Specialist Pain Workforce Study.
Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: On behalf of the National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain (NACCP), the Deputy Chief Medical Officer commissioned Scottish NHS Boards to provide information about the quantity of different healthcare professionals working within specialist pain services ac…
25 Nov 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the timetable is for each NHS board to achieve full implementation of hospital electronic prescribing and medicines administration (HEPMA).
Answer · Jeane Freeman: A national Hospital Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (HEPMA) Oversight Board has been established to monitor timelines and milestones of Health Board implementations. HEPMA has already been successfully implemented in four Health boards acr…
25 Nov 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-25944 by Joe FitzPatrick on 20 November 2019, by what date it will meet Parkinson's UK Scotland and the other key stakeholders to discuss taking forward the recommendations of the report.
Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: We have recently written to Parkinson’s UK to ask them to meet with Scottish Government officials early in the new year to fully discuss and consider the recommendations in their report, “Get it on Time”. We will also continue to engage with all stakeholders…
25 Nov 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many physician associates are employed by each NHS board.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The information requested on how many physician associates are employed by each NHS board is not centrally available. ISD holds information on the Physician Assistants sub-job family within medical and dental support which includes the following sub-categori…
25 Nov 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the contribution that physician associates make to patient care.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Work undertaken by the Scottish Government in relation to the contribution of Physician Associates (PA) and Physician Associates (Anaesthesia) (PAA) has focused primarily on gathering information about their use in Scotland and assessing the risks presented b…
25 Nov 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it promotes the use of physician associates across the NHS.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the Member to the answer to question S5W-26524 on 10 December 2019. 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/parliamentarybusin…
25 Nov 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what input experts in psychology had in developing its strategy, A healthier future: Scotland’s diet and healthy weight delivery plan.
Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Psychology expertise has been critical to the development and implementation of two key policies in the Diet & Healthy Weight Delivery Plan . NHS Health Scotland led the development of standards for weight management services for children and adults in c…
25 Nov 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of demand for weight management services.
Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Since the 1st of October 2019, NHS Boards have been collecting a standardised core dataset for weight management services. This data will provide a rich and invaluable source of evidence, demonstrating the demand for, and effectiveness of, programmes and inte…
25 Nov 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what research it has commissioned into the impact of the language used in, and how best to frame, messaging regarding healthy weight, nutrition and physical activity.
Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Public health messaging on diet, weight and physical activity is an important and sensitive area of work to which we will be giving more attention, drawing on the evidence and learning from other policies. Over the coming year, with NHS Health Scotland and ot…
22 Nov 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported delays in accessing cardiology appointments at NHS Dumfries & Galloway; what discussions it has had with the health board on this, and what support it will provide it with to improve the situation.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: NHS Dumfries and Galloway's cardiology service has a small volume of activity and operates with a visiting workforce. As a result there will be occasions when there are spikes in waiting times however performance has consistently remained within the expected …
22 Nov 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the submissions that have been made to inform the work of the Mental Health Legislation Review.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Review is being independently chaired by John Scott QC so it is for him to determine how to take forward the work of the Review – this includes how submissions to the Review are handled.
21 Nov 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to questions S5W-12931 and S5W-20051 by Maureen Watt and Clare Haughey on 5 December 2017 and 3 December 2018 respectively, whether it will provide the same information for (a) each year from 2011-12 to 2015-16 and (b) 2018-19.
Answer · Clare Haughey: The relevant information available at national level is shown in the following tables. The data are sourced from the Costs Book which is the national data collection covering annual expenditure by NHS Boards in Scotland. The figures shown cover expenditure th…
21 Nov 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential financial savings arising from the use of automated medicines cabinets being made mandatory in each NHS board.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The NHS in Scotland continues to invest in improving our approach to the dispensing of medicine in hospitals, such as in the use of robotic dispensing systems. The Scottish Government has identified the implementation of Hospital Electronic Prescribing and Me…
21 Nov 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the role that automated medicine cabinets can play in reducing deaths linked to medication errors in the NHS.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Automated or semi-automated medicines cabinets are used to promote quicker access to medicines, allow automatic ordering of medicines and release nursing time. There is limited published evidence that these cabinets reduce deaths linked to medication errors.…
21 Nov 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it records information on how many medication errors are made every year in the NHS, and, if so, whether it will provide the figures for each year since 2007.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The information held centrally does not record this. Further information may be available from health boards.