Monica Lennon

7 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what target it has set for all (a) GP practices and (b) hospitals in each NHS board area to provide access to Wi-Fi to patients, and what progress is being made with this.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Scottish Government is committed to providing the necessary digital tools to people when interacting with NHS services. Wi-Fi is available in many NHS facilities in Scotland but no target has been set to ensure access. The Scottish Government has specificall…

7 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure there is public participation and a service design-approach to national digital health and social care services.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Service design principles that ensure the people of Scotland are supported and empowered to actively participate in the definition, design and delivery of their public services are absolutely key to how we take forward health and social care services - nation…

7 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making on introducing a portal for patients in each NHS board area.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: As outlined in my answer to question S5W-26267 on 22 November 2019, Scottish Government has committed to provide the digital capability to enable citizens to access and manage their health and care information and interact with services. This capability will …

7 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when everyone in each NHS board area will have online access to their medical records.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Scotland’s Digital Health & Care Strategy commits to “Deliver the digital capability for citizens to access and update information about their health and wellbeing, including their records and from personal monitoring, and to interact with services”. This is …

6 Nov 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is satisfied with the waiting times for post-mortem reports.

5 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support job creation and retention in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse constituency.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government is working to accelerate inclusive economic growth across Scotland, including in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse constituency. Our national Economic Action Plan, launched in October 2018 supports a competitive business environme…

4 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports of disruption to the childhood flu immunisation programme due to a shortage of supply in some batches of the nasal spray flu vaccine, what action it is taking to support NHS boards.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: As I said in the chamber on the 21 st November, NHS Boards have experienced delays in the delivery to the over 65’s flu vaccine (aTIV) and the childhood flu vaccine (Fluenz Tetra). The delay in the supply of a proportion of the children’s flu vaccine is due …

31 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what NHS support is available to children and young people under the age of 18 with diabetes, and how many staff are employed in providing this service, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: It is the responsibility of individual NHS Boards to identify and provide services that meet the needs of their local population, including support for children and young people with diabetes. Patients have access to specialist diabetes clinicians and nurses…

31 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people (a) under and (b) over the age of 18 have been diagnosed with type (i) 1 and (ii) 2 diabetes in each of the last five years, also broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Information in the format requested is not held centrally. However, the annual Scottish Diabetes Survey contains data on the number of people diagnosed with diabetes in each year since 2009. The surveys for the last five years can be access at the following …

30 Oct 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support job creation and retention in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse.

29 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many children and young people have completed suicide in each of the last five years.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The information requested is given in the following table: Year Under 18 18-24 years 2014 10 59 2015 8 48 2016 12 63 2017 21 51 2018 26 75 Source: National Records of Scotland

29 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to help young people at risk of suicide.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to my answer to PQ S5W-26041 on 22 November 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/parliamentarybusiness/288…

29 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to recent research by the University of Stirling, which suggests that suicidal children are at risk of being overlooked by its global policies.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: In 2020-2021 a 24/7 crisis support will be developed for children and young people and their families, creating a national service linking to police and emergency health services. We will also introduce a text service so children and young people can text as …

29 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21577 by Clare Haughey on 6 March 2019, what plans it has to introduce a policy that will allow the recording of information regarding the number of school pupils who have completed suicide.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Data is available from National Records of Scotland which shows ages of children and young people who have completed suicide. It is not possible to confirm definitely that they were in school, however this provides a reasonable indication of the numbers in sc…

28 Oct 2019 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the projected £1.8 billion shortfall in NHS funding outlined in the Audit Scotland report, NHS in Scotland 2019.

22 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether NHS boards are expected to follow the guidance issued by the Chief Medical Officer in March 2009, Arrangements for NHS patients receiving healthcare services through private healthcare arrangements, andwhen this guidance was last reviewed or updated.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The guidance issued in the CMO letter 2009/03 to all Health Boards on 25 March 2009 sets out the expectation for NHS Boards to have a clear policy in place to deal with situations which may result in a patient requesting combined NHS and private healthcare in…

22 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been prescribed medical cannabis.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-25973 on 11 November 2019. All answers to parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/2887…

22 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the figures published by the Mental Welfare Commission suggesting that detentions for mental illness are at their highest recorded level, with 16- and 17-year-olds accounting for the steepest rise.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Scottish mental health law offers safeguards for patients where compulsory treatment is necessary. The detailed reasons for any change in data are not clear but any increase in compulsory treatment may represent the effects of more people coming forward for t…

22 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comment by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport on 13 October 2019 that "there's a discussion to be had about targets, how do you determine what a successful NHS is?", what plans it has to change, review or consult on NHS targets; which targets or areas of performa…

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government is committed to deliver the Waiting Times Improvement Plan, and any discussion on future targets will involve the public, clinicians and others, in order to ensure that targets and improvement measures best support patient care.

16 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what clinical assessment is required by NHS boards prior to changes in the treatments offered to patients.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: In taking decisions around treatment and service provision, NHS Boards should consider the most up to date guidance available from a range of sources, including, for example, the Royal Colleges, the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), the Nati…

16 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which regional NHS boards include acupuncture as a treatment offered by pain management services.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: NHS Board Pain Management Services Offering Acupuncture NHS Ayrshire and Arran No NHS Borders Yes NHS Dumfries and Galloway No NHS Fife Yes - available to individual patients for pain management, if individual assessment by a qualified clinician war…

9 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many responders in each emergency service are trained on how to administer naloxone.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. Any requests for this information should be directed to the respective emergency services.

9 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been provided to the national naloxone programme in each year since 2011.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: The annual Scottish Government funding provided to the national naloxone programme, which ran from 2011 to 2016, is as follows: 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 £147,355 £165,578 £289,551 £390,456 £249,157 As the programme concluded in 2016,…

9 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many pharmacies (a) stock and (b) have staffed trained on how to administer naloxone.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

7 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, whether it will provide an update on the progress on each of the (a) 16 local recommendations and (b) eight national considerations in the 2019 report, Responding to Drug Use with Kindness, Compassion and Hope, by the Dundee Drugs Commission.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: The Dundee Drugs Commission will meet on the 23 October to publish and discuss the action plan arising from the recommendations in their report 'Responding to Drug Use with Kindness, Compassion and Hope'. Members of the Drug Deaths Taskforce sat on the Commi…

2 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to each NHS board to support their 2019-20 winter resilience plans.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: In line with previous years we are supporting Health Boards to put robust plans in place ahead of winter to ensure quality of care, patient safety and access to services are maintained over the winter period. To support these plans, earlier this month I annou…

2 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to provide funding to (a) local and (b) integration authorities to support social care providers’ winter resilience plans and, if so, how much will be proved to each authority.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Winter funding is allocated to NHS Boards on the basis they will work in partnership with integration authorities to plan the additional resources and capacity required across the whole system to ensure sustainability and resilience over the winter period. Th…

2 Oct 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment in its 2017-18 Programme for Government, what progress it has made with the appointment of school-based counsellors.

30 Sep 2019 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to ensure young people can quickly access mental health services, following reports that there were over 36,000 children and young people referred to CAMHS last year.

25 Sep 2019 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what consideration has been given to using biodegradable period products as part of the free period products scheme.

Answer · Rhoda Grant: The SPCB did consider using biodegradable period products as part of the free period products scheme however there is currently a significant difference in cost between biodegradable and non-biodegradable products. We will continue to monitor the market in…