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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.

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Question reference: S5W-29407

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have had a DNACPR (do not attempt CPR) order put in place during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Scottish Government does not centrally collect information or data relating to the use of Do Not Attempt Cardiovascular Resuscitation (DNACPR) forms in hospitals.

As with all other clinical treatments, decisions about CPR should be based on the individual clinical circumstances and wishes of the patient, recorded appropriately and updated when medical circumstances change. This recording is done in hard copy on a DNACPR form, the existence of which is then recorded on an individual’s Key Information Summary. Such information is only shared for the purposes of direct care and is therefore not centrally collected.

Question reference: S5W-29059

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what information has been recorded regarding the length of time between a patient first presenting with suspected COVID-19 and them being admitted to hospital.

Question reference: S5W-29452

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 10 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what research it is aware of regarding whether air conditioning systems that are used in hospitals, care homes and domestic properties can spread COVID-19, and whether it plans to undertake any research on this subject.

In May 2020, Health Protection Scotland carried out a Rapid Review of Literature: 'Assessing the infection prevention and control measures for the prevention and management of COVID-19 in health and care settings', which identified that, currently there is no clear evidence of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).

This is published on the HPS web site, https://hpspubsrepo.blob.core.windows.net/
hps-website/nss/2985/documents/1_covid-19-rapid-review-ipc-for-covid-19.pdf .

The current view of the UK experts considering such matters is that air conditioning may reduce potential risk through dilution of contaminants, rather than contribute to the spread of COVID-19. Ventilation (air conditioning) has very limited effects on short-range aerosol/droplet and contact transmission, which are believed to be the main transmission routes. No specific research is planned on the contribution of air conditioning to the spread, however, emerging literature is being monitored.

Question reference: S5W-29590

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 10 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when property valuers and surveyors will be able to resume work, and what assessment it has made of whether plans to reopen the housing market are being held back by property valuers and surveyors not yet being able to do so.

A relaxation of restrictions on home moves is anticipated in phase 2 of the recovery plan, as set out in Scotland’s route map through and out of the crisis , published on 21 May. Restrictions will only be relaxed if the virus remains suppressed and the evidence allows us to do so. During phase 1, surveyors should continue to follow the Scottish Government guidance published on 31 March: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19
-guidance-moving-home/ .

We are working with a wide range of stakeholders through our Home Moves in Scotland Working Group, including the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, to develop revised guidance for phase 2.

Question reference: S5W-29454

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 10 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it plans to take in response to reports regarding chronic pain patients not being able to access their usual treatments, such as infusions, and of some patients considering travelling to England or raising funds to be treated at private clinics.

Question reference: S5W-29135

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it took over 15 months for action to be taken by the Care Inspectorate regarding Home Farm Care Home on Skye.

Question reference: S5W-29402

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what advice it has provided on DNR (do not resuscitate) forms put in place for individual patients during the COVID-19 outbreak.

On the 10 April, the Chief Medical Officer, Chair of the Scottish General Practitioners Committee of the BMA and Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) wrote to GPs to provide advice and support on having anticipatory care planning conversations and to make clear that there is no requirement for health professionals to have a DNACPR discussion as part of this conversation, unless the patient wishes to discuss it or clinician feels strongly it is necessary to raise in conversation for the patient’s wellbeing. On the 17 April, a further joint letter from the Scottish Government’s Chief Medical Officer, BMA and RCGP was sent to GPs to reinforce the advice already provided.

Question reference: S5W-29453

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 10 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has not stated a timescale for reopening chronic pain clinics, in light of the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Royal College of Anaesthetists recommending on 15 May 2020 the aim of “reverting to pre-COVID-19 capacity in the next six weeks”.

We have published the ‘Re-mobilise, Recover, Re-design, The Framework for NHS Scotland’ that sets out how Health Boards will follow national and local clinical advice to safely and incrementally prioritise the resumption of services paused during the current public health emergency. This is in the context of maintaining COVID-19 capacity and resilience, where many of the specialist pain workforce was re-deployed to, and providing appropriate support for social care.

As part of this, the Interim Chief Medical Officer and National Clinical Director have provided an outline of services that could be prioritised including:

cancer services, especially referrals and postponed treatments
expanding treatments for non-cancer urgent inpatients and outpatients
outpatient therapies where delay will increase the risk to patients, such as management of macular degeneration, paediatrics and respiratory services
mental health support
treatment room services such as blood monitoring and B12 injections

The above is in line with the Faculty of Pain Medicine guidance of 15 May, which refers to a letter issued by NHS England advising the initial focus should be on urgent and time critical work.

Our approach is driven by clinical priorities, as well as what matters to people’s quality of life. We are therefore engaging with Health Boards and stakeholders to stimulate a national discussion to inform local and regional planning to resume hospital pain management services as quickly and as safely as possible, and to evolve the Scottish Chronic Pain Service Model to improve access to care and support for pain management in the community.

Question reference: S5T-02243

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 June 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it did not immediately publish details of the number of patients who have contracted COVID-19 in hospital.

Question reference: S5W-28573

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many respirators have been available to staff in each NHS board.

Assuming the member means FFP3 respirators, the following table shows the number of FFP3 respirators issued to each NHS Board from 1 January 2020 to 17 May 2020:

NHS Board	Number
Ayrshire & Arran	184,097
Borders	85,842
Dumfries & Galloway	96,826
Fife	152,531
Forth Valley	134,509
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	64,768
Grampian	310,289
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	586,778
Highland	147,227
Lanarkshire	266,279
Lothian	310,993
Orkney	34,934
Scottish Ambulance Service	142,256
Shetland	30,860
NSS (Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service)	14,950
State Hospital	13,354
Tayside	211,973
Western Isles	38,073