Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-02610

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients returned with suspected deep vein thrombosis (DVT) within 90 days of discharge following (a) orthopaedic and (b) any type of surgery in (i) 2010, (ii) 2015 and (iii) 2020.

The following table presents the information requested.

Table 1 : Number of readmissions with a diagnosis of deep-vein thrombosis readmitted within 90 days of discharge following an orthopaedic or any type of surgery.

Year	Number of readmissions after orthopaedic surgery	Number of readmissions after any surgery, including orthopaedic
2010	93	265
2015	87	243
2020	53	164

1. Year based on the date of admission when the surgery was carried out.

2. Surgeries have been defined as clinical procedures occurring in a surgical specialty excluding diagnosis imaging, testing and rehabilitation procedures. This may misclassify a few procedures, and there might be a slight overestimation of the number of procedures, as this leads to the inclusion of some procedures that may not be perceived to be ‘surgery’ – such as those not requiring anaesthetic or any incision.

3. A readmission has been counted when a patient has undergone a surgical procedure and within 90 days of discharge they have been re-admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT). A patient may have multiple ‘readmissions’ for any reason during the 90 day period following surgery but only the first readmission of the year for a patient has been counted. It is not possible to determine if the DVT was caused by the surgical procedure.

Source: Public Health Scotland

Question reference: S6W-02612

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many people died from a pulmonary embolism due to deep vein thrombosis (DVT) within 90 days of discharge following (a) orthopaedic and (b) any type of surgery in (i) 2010, (ii) 2015 and (iii) 2020.

The following table presents the information requested.

Table 1 : Number of people that died within 90 days of discharge following an orthopaedic or any type of surgery, with pulmonary embolism and deep-vein thrombosis among the causes of death.

Year	Number of deaths after orthopaedic surgery	Number of deaths after any surgery, including orthopaedic
2010	16	35
2015	9	25
2020	7	16

1. Year based on the date of the hospital admission when the surgery was carried out.

2. Surgeries have been defined as clinical procedures occurring in a surgical specialty excluding diagnosis imaging, testing and rehabilitation procedures. This may misclassify a few procedures, and there might be a slight overestimation of the number of procedures, as this leads to the inclusion of some procedures that may not be perceived to be ‘surgery’ – such as those not requiring anaesthetic or any incision.

3. A death has been counted if both pulmonary embolism (PE) and deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) were recorded on the death certificate, either as the underlying cause of death or in the contributory causes of death, and the patient had a hospital admission with a surgical procedure recorded in the prior 90 days to their date of death. The patient may have had an unrelated underlying cause of death but have DVT and PE recorded in the contributory causes of death. We are not able to determine if the deep-vein thrombosis was the cause of the pulmonary embolism.

Source: Public Health Scotland

Question reference: S6W-02609

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what post-operative guidance and information on venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention was provided to patients, or their carers, as part of the discharge process following orthopaedic surgery in (a) 2010, (b) 2015 and (c) 2020.

Question reference: S6W-02593

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) there have been since the start of the pandemic where the patient had previously tested positive for COVID-19, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-02592

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on links between long COVID and deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and what research it is undertaking or planning to undertake into any such links.

With the British Heart Foundation Data Science centre, the University of Edinburgh is looking at the long-term risk of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism after infection with COVID-19. Analyses are currently ongoing, but results are anticipated soon.

This work is funded by the British Heart Foundation and the Stroke Association, with support from Health Data Research UK.

The Scottish Government is not funding research specifically investigating links between long-COVID and deep vein thrombosis (DVT). However, both direct research funding and research support funding has been provided to projects that are investigating the longer term effects of COVID-19.

On December 22 2020, the Chief Scientist Office announced the outcome of its funding call for Scottish-led research on the long-term effects of COVID-19 infection. Following a competitive independently peer reviewed process 9 long-COVID research projects were funded with a total funding commitment of around £2.5 million. Details of the funded projects are available from the Chief Scientist Office website.

Long Covid Call – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk)

Question reference: S6W-02870

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether chronic pain patient representatives and other stakeholders will be given advance sight of papers relating to the content of a proposed draft Framework for Chronic Pain Service Delivery.

A public consultation on the draft Framework for Chronic Pain Service Delivery is expected to begin this Autumn. We are grateful for the input provided to date by people with lived experience, clinical, third-sector and other stakeholders in helping us to shape this draft and welcome further feedback as part of the public consultation in order to help us improve services and support for people with chronic pain in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-02259

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is regarding policies that are in place to ensure single-sex ward provision in hospitals.

The Scottish Government expects everyone to be treated with consideration, dignity and respect when accessing and using NHS services. NHS staff will make every effort to ensure that the privacy and dignity of all patients are maintained in Scottish hospitals.

All patients should routinely be cared for in wards or bays which are for single sex occupancy. The Scottish Government provided guidelines and recommendations on the elimination of mixed sex accommodation in 1999 and 2000. Further guidance and direction regarding the provision of clinically appropriate single room accommodation in all planned new buildings and major refurbishments was provided in 2008 and 2010.

Question reference: S6W-02603

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to develop a national workforce plan for social work.

We are committed to implement the recommendations in the Independent Review of Adult Social Care Report, including the creation of a National Care Service (NCS), which we aim to introduce in the first Parliamentary Session. Our ambition, however, is to go beyond the creation of a NCS for adult social care. in the formal consultation we published in August 2021, we invited views on creating a comprehensive community health and social care service, including social work, that supports people of all ages. Our proposals include establishing a National Social Work Agency which would have responsibility for national workforce planning for social work.

Question reference: S6W-02604

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many young people have received free music tuition in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-01843

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 15 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have accessed residential rehabilitation in each NHS board in the last 24 months.

There a number of routes into drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation treatment that do not always involve the Alcohol and Drug Partnerships or NHS services.

While the information requested is not currently held centrally, the Scottish Government is working with Public Health Scotland to develop a monitoring system which will include reporting on number of people accessing residential rehabilitation treatment from each Alcohol and Drugs Partnership area.

Getting people into the treatment and recovery that is right for them at the right time is at the core of our national mission to save and improve lives. £100 million of the additional £250 million funding announced as part of the National Mission will support further investment in - and expansion of - residential rehabilitation and associated aftercare over the next five years.

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