- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 November 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on who researched, wrote and presented the study, “Findings of Scottish Specialist Pain Workforce Study”, which was contained in the minutes of the National Advisory Committee on Chronic Pain meeting on 26 June 2019, but not published until 31 October 2019; what the cost of this work was, and to whom any payment was made in relation to its production.
Answer
On behalf of the National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain (NACCP), the Deputy Chief Medical Officer commissioned Scottish NHS Boards to provide information about the quantity of different healthcare professionals working within specialist pain services across Scotland, as well as qualitative information about recruitment/ retention challenges and succession planning for this workforce group. As the survey and subsequent report were commissioned and produced by the Scottish Government, any associated costs were absorbed internally.
The survey results informed the report “Findings of Scottish Specialist Pain Workforce Study” which was published with the June 2019 minutes of the National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain (NACCP). Sessions, rather than whole-time equivalent (WTE) are the basis of consultant contracts and job planning, and thus for understanding available workforce consultant figures show sessions rather than WTE. This allowed a more meaningful response, reflecting actual hours in the pain service. The report also shows the WTE of other healthcare staff working in pain clinics, broken down by discipline where able to do so, in accordance with Data Protection legislation.
The Scottish Government intend to publish all the returns made by NHS Boards to the survey early in the new year. This will be subject to, and in accordance with, Data Protection legislation.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 November 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the study "Findings of Scottish Specialist Pain Workforce Study”, which was contained in the minutes of the National Advisory Committee on Chronic Pain meeting on 26 June 2019, how many whole-time equivalent (WTE) staff work in pain clinics, also broken down by discipline.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to the question S5W-26424 on 27 November 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 November 2019
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish all returns made by NHS boards to the study, “Findings of Scottish Specialist Pain Workforce Study", which is included in the minutes of the National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain meeting on 26 June 2019.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-26424 on 27 November 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 November 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-25953 by Joe FitzPatrick on 6 November 2019, what the timeline is for (a) it to report on the outcome of the discussions regarding potential pilot programmes and (b) the UK National Screening Committee's (UK NSC) next evidence review for lung cancer screening.
Answer
Following discussions between Scottish Government officials, academics and the Scottish Screening Committee, a pilot proposal for a feasibility study on lung cancer screening has been submitted for funding and a decision is expected in December 2019.
We are unaware of when the UK National Screening Committee will form a view on lung cancer screening but we understand that they will review the evidence on lung cancer screening again after the results of the NELSON randomised lung cancer screening trial are published.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 November 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-25953 by Joe FitzPatrick on 6 November 2019, what decisions were taken following the meetings with academics, the Chair of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) and the Scottish Screening Committee.
Answer
I refer the member to my answer to question S5W-26377 on 27 November 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 November 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the age criteria for breast screening.
Answer
The Scottish Government is advised on all aspects of screening by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert group who assesses screening programmes against a robust set of criteria, before advising the NHS and Ministers in the UK. The UK NSC continues to monitor and consider all available evidence and recommendations and this will include the results of the cluster-randomised trial, currently underway in England, when these are published. The trial which is looking to extend the age range to 47-73 began in 2009 and is still recruiting women. The main results of this trial are expected in the 2020s.
Breast screening is a valuable public health service and plays an important role in detecting cancer at an early stage. We know that screening remains the best way to detect breast cancer early and help reduce health inequalities in cancer outcomes. The Scottish Breast Screening Programme needs to be as effective as possible and needs to adapt in order to keep pace with the increasing population and changes in technology and lifestyles, which is why we have approved a review of the Scottish Breast Screening Programme, to ensure it continues to support early diagnosis of breast cancer. The review, carried out by National Services Scotland, will look at everything from invitation processes, advances in technology, future requirements, and ways to increase participation and address health inequalities.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 October 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 November 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14095 by Aileen Campbell on 8 February 2018 regarding expenditure on smoking cessation campaigns, whether it will provide the information for each of the last two years.
Answer
The total spend on the "Quit your way Scotland" campaign which ran in 2018, was £608,198. Spend from this campaign was frontloaded in Financial Year 2017-18:
2017-2018 - £552,975
2018-2019 - £55,223
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 November 2019
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been convicted for falsely acting as a medical professional in each year since 2007.
Answer
The available information is provided in the following table, which has been produced from the Scottish Government’s criminal proceedings database .
| 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 |
MEDICAL ACT 1983 S49 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
DENTISTS ACT 1984 S38(1) | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | 2 | - | 1 | 2 |
THE NURSING AND MIDWIFERY ORDER 2001 ARTICLE 44(1)(A) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - |
Total | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | 2 | - | 2 | 2 |
However, it should be noted that, while it is a criminal offence for someone to practise or hold themselves out as a member of one of the health professions regulated in law, the statutory regulators would normally refer such concerns to the public prosecuting authorities. In fact, false practitioners may never have belonged to the register of the profession in which they were practising illegally and may come before the courts for other reasons without the involvement or awareness of that regulator. In addition, cases may be prosecuted on charges of common law fraud on the basis of financial gain by deception and misrepresentation rather than issues of professional practice, therefore figures for this specific offence cannot be accurately collated by any one authority.
Please note: Information for 2018-19 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2018-19 Statistical Bulletin. This is due to be published in January 2020.
The dates of all Scottish Government Official and National Statistics publications are pre-announced, and the up to date list of future publications can be found at:
https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/ForthcomingPubs .
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 25 November 2019
To ask the Scottish Government how many child hospital patients have been admitted to adult wards in each year since 2007.
Answer
This information is not routinely collected but individual Health Boards may have information on the position in each hospital in their area.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 25 November 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-03409 by John Swinney on 19 June 2019 (Official Report, c. 17), what review it has conducted into the extent of multi-level teaching across the country.
Answer
Running bi-level or multi-level course classes is one approach many schools have used for many years to increase the amount of choice available to their pupils.
There will be varying levels of prior attainment in any class and Education Scotland has yet to see any firm evidence from inspections of educational disadvantage due to multilevel teaching.
In line with the unanimous decision of the Parliament on 1 May 2019, we will be conducting an independent review of the senior phase of Curriculum for Excellence. The review will provide an opportunity to look at the impact of different approaches to learning and teaching, including bi-level and multi-level teaching.