- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 03 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 10 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of what the potential impact on hospital audiology and ear, nose and throat (ENT) services waiting lists would be, if all eligible adults with age-related hearing loss were treated in primary care audiology instead
Answer
Audiology is considered as a clinical priority area and the Scottish Government remains committed to its vision for an integrated and community-based hearing service in Scotland.
Whilst our response to the Independent Review of Audiology in Scotland is implemented, we will continue to work with the NHS, Third Sector and private providers to identify and cost an appropriate model of community care for any future service reform and ensure that the voices of those with lived experience inform this work.
Scottish Government officials and the Centre for Sustainable Delivery national planned care team meet monthly with Chief Operating Officer and / or Acute Directors from all Health Boards to review performance and delivery across all Planned Care specialities, including ENT.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 7 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the announcement of interim placement care home beds in January 2023, how many placement care home beds were purchased, and what the cost was per bed.
Answer
216 people were discharged to an interim care home bed placement through the 2023 interim care beds funding. The scheme was open between 10 January and 31 March 2023. The average cost per placement was £1108.22. This varied by placement in practice dependant on length of stay.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 12 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on NHS pay negotiations for 2025-26.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 12 March 2025
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what plans are in place for a new Respiratory Care Action Plan when the current plan comes to an end in 2026.
Answer
The Respiratory Care Action Plan has another year left in its current lifespan. We will continue to implement the commitments in the Plan over the coming year, alongside our work to explore a new long term conditions strategy to ensure equitable and sustainable access to the services that all people with long term conditions need, while still allowing for targeted action on condition-specific care and support where appropriate. We will take the progress of this work into account as we consider the best way to continue work to improve care and support for people with respiratory conditions in the future.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it will report on the impact of the Respiratory Care Action Plan at the end of the strategy’s life span.
Answer
The Respiratory Care Action Plan has another year left in its current lifespan. We will consider how best to report on its impact as it continues into 2026.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made towards its commitment in the Respiratory Care Action Plan to work with people living with respiratory conditions to better understand the barriers to accessing appropriate mental health support.
Answer
We understand that the provision of tailored mental health support remains challenging in some areas of respiratory care. We continue to work closely with health psychologists and other key stakeholders to determine how better support can be provided to people living with respiratory and other long-term conditions.
We have invested £51 million in our Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults since 2021, with approximately 3300 grants made to local projects across Scotland in the first two years alone.
A further £15 million was announced on 25 March 2024 for Fourth year of the Fund which means the Scottish Government has made £66 million available since 2021, the funding supports people facing socio-economic disadvantage, people- living with a long-term health condition or disability, older people and people disadvantaged by geographical location.
We also continue to provide a range of resources and raise awareness of how to support mental wellbeing through expanding the range of practical mental wellbeing resources available on our Mind to Mind, Parent Club and Young Scots mental wellbeing websites to complement other supports available in person and by phone.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made towards its commitment in the Respiratory Care Action Plan to ensure that people with respiratory conditions have access to tools, resources and information that support them to manage their own condition.
Answer
We have recently published the Quality Prescribing Guide for Improvement that aims to keep people at the centre of their treatment, and promote safe, evidenced based, sustainable prescribing.
The guide was developed by a wide range of stakeholders including experts in the field and lived experiences. The guide is intended to support clinicians across the multidisciplinary team and people living with respiratory conditions in shared decision-making and the effective use of medicines and offers practical advice and options for tailoring care to the needs and preferences of individuals
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made towards its commitment in the Respiratory Care Action Plan to work in partnership with key stakeholders including the third sector and the Digital Health and Care Institute (DHI) to ensure that people with respiratory conditions have access to tools, resources and information that support them to manage their own condition.
Answer
We continue to support a digital first, but not digital only approach across many of our respiratory programmes. Recommendations within the pulmonary rehab work have suggested widening access to online self-management tools and this is something we are actively considering.
NHS Inform provides information about respiratory conditions and other long-term conditions. The service offers information, advice and self-management tools on how to live well with their condition as well as including links to additional support and information provided by third sector partners.
Our updated Quality Prescribing Guide for Improvement keeps the person with respiratory conditions at the centre of their treatment and disease management and offers practical advice and options for tailoring care to the needs and preferences of individuals. A core component of this has been to create user friendly digital tools for both people living with lung conditions and healthcare professionals.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it measures success of the implementation of the Respiratory Care Action Plan, and what impact has been achieved by the plan.
Answer
We recognise the importance of having access to meaningful data in relation to respiratory services and assessing the impact of the Respiratory Care Action Plan.
We work with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that the current programmes for improving respiratory care remain relevant and make an impact. We will continue to monitor progress through various groups, including via our third sector partners, to determine next steps for implementing the Plan.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made towards its commitment in the Respiratory Care Action Plan to improve and simplify access to appropriate diagnostic tests for respiratory conditions and explore the use of high quality, consistent spirometry testing and chest and lung CT scans.
Answer
Improved access to diagnostic tests remains a wider commitment for the Scottish Government and we are working closely with Primary Care colleagues to determine ways to improve spirometry.
The Scottish Government has established a Scottish Expert Advisory Group to support the work of the UK National Screening Committee Lung Task Group and inform the implementation of a targeted lung cancer screening programme for Scotland.
Introducing a new screening programme such as Chest and Lung CT scanning is inherently complex, and the required evidence and information must be fully developed before implementation begins. This is likely to take several years for each UK nation.
The Scottish Government-funded LungScot study, led by the University of Edinburgh, provided further information on the feasibility of lung screening and the influences of sociodemographic and other patient characteristics. The Scottish Expert Advisory Group is incorporating these findings into their business case which will inform the next steps towards implementation.
