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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-13962

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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.

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.

Question reference: S6W-13994

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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.

Question reference: S6W-13990

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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 rights and responsibilities people have for using digital means to access information and services.

The “Health and Social Care Standards: my support, my life” set out a range of standards on what people should expect when using health, social care or social work services in Scotland. These include the use of technology to support independence and having more control over their own health and wellbeing, and for those in 24 hour care that they are connected to the internet. The Standards also set out an expectation that people can access the right information at the right time, and patients rights and responsibilities in relation to their information is further enhanced by the Charter of Patient Rights and Responsibilities which sets out expectations around confidentiality and handling of medical information.

Question reference: S6W-13984

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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.

Question reference: S6W-13964

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent in each year since 2007 on the provision of access to free Wi-Fi for patients and residents currently being cared for by health and social care services (a) at their bedside and (b) in public areas within their healthcare setting.

Question reference: S6W-13981

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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.

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

Question reference: S6W-13957

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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.

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.

Question reference: S6W-13989

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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.

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.

Question reference: S6W-13958

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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.

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 ).

Question reference: S6W-13966

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 30 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on the Near Me service.