- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have accessed health and social care services via asynchronous communication in the last year, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many individuals Connecting Scotland has assisted in accessing the devices, data and support that they need to be able to use digital technology, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The Connecting Scotland programme aims to ensure that people in Scotland have access to digital services by providing them with opportunities to access and utilise devices, connectivity, skills, and support effectively. To date, the programme has brought a total of 60,000 digitally excluded people online since programme launch.
A table containing the information specified in your question has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 63974 ).
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy, how much it has spent on developing an online triage system.
Answer
As per answer to question S6W-13986 on 31 January 2023 there are a number of developments underway to support online triage. However, we do not hold information on the amount spent specifically on online triage.
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/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy, how it has increased the number of ways whereby people can access the care, support and information that they need.
Answer
The use of digital continues to be a key priority to support better choice and access to health and care services. The Near Me video consultation service has now supported in excess of 1.8m people through appointments since early 2020 across Scotland, avoiding over 60 million miles of unnecessary travel with important benefit for those on Island’s and rural areas. Remote monitoring of conditions is also being prioritised with over 40,000 people now having monitored their blood pressure from home through our Connect Me service with further developments for other conditions underway. Digital for Mental Health has seen significant growth with a range of self-help guides, self-referral therapy and self-management options now available to the public. In addition, NHS Inform continues to be the key place for validated information and support and we continue to encourage people to go to NHS Inform as a first step to help identify the best route of support for that person and their circumstances. Further access to services digitally will be made through the Digital Front Door.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many patients and residents currently being cared for by health and social care services (a) do and (b) do not have access to free Wi-Fi (i) at their bedside and (ii) in public areas within their healthcare setting, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.
All Health Boards have a responsibility to ensure that that Wi-Fi is of a sufficient standard to support both patients and staff to have access to connectivity.
In 2019, Scotland undertook its first digital maturity assessment across health and social care which helped to prioritise key areas for investment. A further assessment is due to take place later this year which will include consideration of availability of Wi-Fi that we expect to inform further priorities.
There is no centrally held resource providing information about the Wi-Fi provision for residents in care homes. However, data obtained from participating care homes on the programme of work to fulfil the Digital Approaches in Care Homes Action Plan has indicated that an estimated 55% of care homes have Wi-Fi access throughout the premises, 38% have only partial Wi-Fi coverage, and 9% have no Wi-Fi access for residents.
Our digital in care homes programme was launched to complement the Connecting Scotland digital inclusion programme. It saw over 75% of all adult and children's care homes in Scotland take up the offer of digital devices, data packages, connectivity improvements and skills. This included providing increased Wi-Fi/MiFi capabilities for those who required this. The homes who took up this offer cover over 90% of all care home residents in Scotland with devices being used to help residents to remain connected to friends and family and to access key services such as the NHS.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy to develop a fully interactive "Front Door", how many health and care services, both digital and physical services, across the statutory, third and independent sectors, are currently available on this system.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13979 on 30 January 2023. 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/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what plans there are to evaluate the virtual health treatment tool, Near Me, and whether any such evaluation will involve service users.
Answer
Near me video consulting service has been evaluated from 2 separate occasions but the university of oxford. See links –
https://www.gov.scot/publications/evaluation-attend-anywhere-near-video-consulting-service-scotland-2019-20-main-report/
https://www.gov.scot/publications/evaluation-near-video-consulting-service-scotland-during-covid-19-2020-main-report/
In addition to this, a public consultation was undertaken that reached an excess of 5000 people and professionals. This resulted in this summary capturing views on the service –
https://www.gov.scot/publications/near-video-consulting-programme-national-equality-impact-assessment/
We have also developed an Equalities and Impact Assessment for the Near Me service which you can find here –
https://www.gov.scot/publications/public-clinician-views-video-consultation-executive-summary/documents/
There are currently no further plans for further evaluation at this point.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has invested in providing digital access to health and care services through asynchronous communication since the publication of its Digital Health and Care Strategy.
Answer
As mentioned in answer to question S6W-13982 on 31 January 2023 a number of programmes being taken forward in Scotland that support the use of asynchronous communication. Whilst it is therefore not possible to give an exact figure related to asynchronous communication only, since the publication of the Digital Health & Care Strategy in October 2021 to December 2022, the Sottish Government has invested around £2 million in relevant systems.
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/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its commitment to provide such access, whether all patients are now able to view and update information contained in their records, and access information such as test results, letters and treatment/care plans.
Answer
It is the intention of the Scottish Government to deliver this capability through the Digital Front Door, further details of which can be found in the answer to question S6W-13979 on 30 January 2023. 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/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy, what it is doing to support people to embrace existing, new and emerging technologies in health and care.
Answer
The use of digital tools is a choice and the Scottish Government is very mindful that introducing more Digital into the Health & Care system will need to be proportionate to ensure that nobody is left behind. The Scottish Government’s Connecting Scotland Programme, which is looking to support households to get online, is a key part of supporting people to embrace technology, including to access health and care. In addition, individual programmes of work and individual services, such as those set out in the answer to question S6W-13989 on 31 January 2023, are responsible for ensuring patients and service users are sufficiently supported to meaningfully use technology.
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/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answer
