Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-18217

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the upgrading of a number of laybys on the A77.

Question reference: S6W-17790

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 19 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to develop a new partnership with the hospice sector, and whether it has any plans to remunerate hospices for potential staff wage increases.

The Scottish Government is considering the issues that the hospice sector raised at its meeting in March with the then Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and the then Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport, including immediate and longer-term funding issues.

It is the responsibility of Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) to plan and commission adult palliative and end of life care services for their areas using the integrated budgets under their control and the Scottish Government is therefore continuing to engage with Health and Social Care Chief Officers in relation to the issues raised.

Question reference: S6W-17632

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has allocated to (a) therapeutic and (b) palliative care for people with cancer in each financial year since 2007-08.

Question reference: S6W-17898

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 18 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-17358 by Michael Matheson on 4 May 2023, by which date the Digital Prescribing and Dispensing Pathways programme will be rolled out across all NHS boards.

Question reference: S6O-02291

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to improve patient access to dental services.

Question reference: S6W-17791

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 16 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-04293 by Graeme Dey on 25 November 2021, whether it will provide an update on these plans, and whether all planned secondary legislation is now in place.

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-04293 by Graeme Dey on 25 November 2021, whether it will provide an update on these plans, and whether all planned secondary legislation is now in place.The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 prohibits pavement parking, double parking and parking at dropped kerbs, and gives local authorities the relevant powers to enforce these new provisions. To support these provisions, a suite of regulations is required to bring the new legislation into force. These give local authorities the tools they need to be able to tackle the issues of inconsiderate and obstructive parking.

The first of these regulations regarding the Exemption Order Procedures that local authorities must follow, was laid in Parliament in December 2022. A copy of the legislation can be found here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2022/360/contents/made.

We have had a long-standing commitment to allow local authorities 12 months from when these regulations come into force to assess their streets and put in place any exemption orders and physical signs and lines before enforcement can go live in late 2023.

In addition we will shortly be launching a public consultation on the Enforcement Procedure Regulations which will define how a local authority can issue a Penalty Charge Notice to someone found to be in contravention of the new national prohibitions for Pavement, Dropped Kerb & Double Parking. The secondary regulations required to ensure local authorities have the powers they need to enforce this will be laid in Parliament later this year.

Question reference: S6W-17789

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 16 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many people under 22 in South Ayrshire have registered for a free bus pass through the Young Persons' (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme, and what this is as a percentage of eligible under-22s in that area.

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many people under 22 in South Ayrshire have registered for a free bus pass through the Young Persons' (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme, and what this is as a percentage of eligible under-22s in that area.As at the end of the day 30 April 2023, there were 10,069 cardholders under the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme in South Ayrshire. This represents 56.4% of the estimated eligible population in the local authority area.

Cardholder data is supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). NECPO supports the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card (NEC) and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data. The figure includes travel products collected from the Transport Scot Pass Collect mobile app.

Question reference: S6W-17537

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is planning to add Parkinson’s medication to the High Risk Medicines Framework.

The High Risk Medicines Framework specifies some medicines and medicines groups and at the current time this does not include Parkinson’s medication. There is also a High Risk Medicines Discussion template that is not medicine specific and can be adapted and used by local teams to meet their needs. Parkinson’s medication can be reviewed and discussed within this framework to support local teams to discuss and prioritise improvement activities. All resources are reviewed regularly and the Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) welcomes further suggestions to add to or develop resources.

Question reference: S6W-17538

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to update the High Risk Medicines Framework.

Question reference: S6W-17534

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the Scottish Patient Safety Programme Medicines Collaborative is currently working on, and whether any areas of its work have ceased to be active.

The Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) Medicines Collaborative was hibernated in 2020. Since then, the following elements have restarted:

Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAID) Safer Care Bundle
NSAID Communication Care Bundle
Medicines Sick Day Rule Cards
High Risk Medicines Framework
High Risk Medicines Discussion Framework

Two elements which have ceased are:

Omitted medicines, which has moved to the Excellence in Care team
Reducing Medicines Harm Across Transitions

Medicines safety continues to be a priority across Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) and their current focus is on supporting the implementation of primary care pharmacotherapy services. This includes quality improvement work to ensure safe and timely access to medicines using resources from the acute prescribing and serial prescriptions toolkits. These toolkits have been developed in collaboration with primary care teams to ensure people have safe and timely access to medicines including regular, person-centred medication reviews. HIS also provides hands on implementation support to teams who can apply to join a seven week sprint programme. During this programme teams are supported to understand their local system and implement the tools and resources within the pharmacotherapy toolkits.

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