Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-14772

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) adult social care and (b) childcare training places there have been in each year since 1999.

The information requested on training places for workers in this sector is not held centrally as the activity is not centrally managed. Much adult social care and childcare training is vocational and work-based and training providers with relevant information could include employers, private training providers, colleges, universities and bodies such as the Scottish Funding Council and the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

Question reference: S5W-14551

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS Lothian regarding the recent leak at the Sick Kids Hospital in Edinburgh, which incapacitated the MRI scanner, and how it will ensure that the lessons learned from this incident are rolled out across the other NHS boards.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with NHS Lothian to discuss all key issues which impact on service delivery.

As far as possible, NHS Lothian minimised the impact on patients as they are aware that any delay in diagnosis or treatment can be worrying, especially for parents of young children and they were able to prioritise those patients requiring urgent MRI scans, and transfer them to other sites within and out with Lothian. Lothian Radiology Management and the Clinical teams worked in collaboration with Estates, Medical Physics and the supplier of the MRI to resolve the problem exercising the safety precautions required when working with an MRI scanner. Radiographers and Radiologists provided additional evening and weekend sessions on various sites in Lothian to minimise the impact. NHS Lothian were able to scan outwith normal working hours to reduce the waiting time for patients.

NHS Lothian will work with Scottish Government to ensure that any lessons to be learned from this incident are addressed appropriately.

Question reference: S5W-14562

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action NHS Lothian is taking to (a) recruit more orthopaedic consultants and (b) reduce waiting times for orthopaedic treatment, and what discussions it has had with the NHS board regarding this.

Health Boards have fully delegated powers to recruit and deploy staff, in order to meet their service delivery responsibilities. The Scottish Government supports health boards in their efforts to ensure that they have the right staff in place to meet the healthcare needs of the local population. We understand from NHS Lothian they have recently recruited two consultant orthopaedic surgeons, with both taking up post in January 2018.

I recognise some patients in Lothian are experiencing long waits including in the specialty of orthopaedics, that is why I have made £50 million available to NHSScotland - with up to £7.4 million being made available to Lothian. This additional funding will build up their capacity and make sure that all patients are seen and treated in a timely fashion. I expect to see improvements between now and the end of March 2018. Officials continue to meet with the Board regularly to support improvement in waiting time performance.

The Board are also taking a number of actions to improve orthopaedic waiting times for patients this includes redesigning their Muscoloskeletal Allied Health Professional service to ensure that patients with foot and ankle and upper limb conditions are seen by the most appropriate healthcare professional in the right place in a more timely manner.

Question reference: S5W-14499

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 28 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to (a) help promote small businesses and (b) create new jobs in West Lothian.

The Scottish Government is continuing to work closely with partners in the region to deliver the West Lothian Economic Growth Plan, which was agreed following the announcement in 2012 that the Halls of Broxburn plant would close with the loss of 1,700 jobs. The Plan, launched in 2012, captures a range of interventions supporting economic growth in the area over a 5 year period, including those that support jobs and businesses.

We have supported the delivery of the Plan with £12 million of additional resource which, along with existing budgets represents an overall package of financial support of £29 million to strengthen the West Lothian economy and to help it weather future economic challenges. An independent mid-term evaluation undertaken in 2016 demonstrated that interventions in the Plan had supported the creation of 2,395 additional jobs and supported 450 ex-Halls of Broxburn employees with training to assist them in finding new employment.

In addition, Scottish Enterprise works closely with partners including the Business Gateway, Skills Development Scotland and Local Authorities to provide support to ambitious growth companies in Scotland. Together we offer support for start ups, SMEs and large organisations. There is a wide range of support available from the public sector including business mentoring, business planning, innovation to develop products or services, leadership development, investment advice, international support, training and development for staff, business improvement academy and manufacturing reviews through Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Services.

At a local level, West Lothian Council and Business Gateway offer a range of services including workshops and seminars on topics such as marketing, tax,
‎ e-commerce, supplier development programme, business health checks and provide 1-2-1 adviser support.

Question reference: S5W-14560

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 23 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to whether the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of X v Finland will impact on mental health law in Scotland, in light of reports that the Scottish legislation allows for the forced treatment of a person detained in hospital to begin before that person has had an opportunity to appeal against the detention.

The Scottish Government is committed to creating a modern, inclusive Scotland which protects, respects and realises internationally recognised human rights, and is working with the whole of Scottish society to deliver a shared vision for a Scotland where everyone can live a life of human dignity. The Scotland Act 1998 requires that all Scottish Parliament legislation and all acts of members of the Scottish Government must be compatible with core ECHR rights (“the Convention rights”). In addition, the Human Rights Act 1998 ensures that every public authority in Scotland is obliged to act compatibly with the Convention rights and enables human rights cases to be taken in domestic courts.

We believe that the 2003 Act is fully compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The 2003 Act has never been found, in part or in whole, by the European Court of Human Rights to be not compliant with ECHR.

The Mental Health strategy 2017-2027 recognises as a theme the importance of human rights and as part of this, has committed to actions around reviewing various aspects of mental health and incapacity legislation use in Scotland. We have recently implemented an amending act in mental health law and there are two reviews underway at the moment which are key, the AWI reform work and the review of how the 2003 Act meets the needs of those with learning disability and autism.

Question reference: S5W-14179

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 23 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported lack of specialist dementia beds in NHS Lothian.

The Scottish Government is assured that NHS Lothian has sufficient NHS specialist dementia bed provision and notes that the Board and its statutory partners recognise that there is a need to expand provision of specialist care home places. The Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership is revising its strategic commissioning plan, within which a market facilitation plan will outline how the partnership will work with service providers to ensure the right level of capacity is available across the city.

In addition, NHS Lothian have a range of services designed to help avoid unnecessary admissions into specialist or acute care and to support people with dementia to remain at home for as long as possible, including post-diagnostic support, complex care, rapid response and older adult intensive home care services.

We continue to support the local whole-system transformation of dementia care across Integration Joint Boards, to reduce any unnecessary dependency on specialist dementia beds and increase the capacity and quality of community-based care. This includes action in our 2017-2020 National Dementia Strategy to increase access to post-diagnostic support, improve integrated home care and develop a national approach to dementia palliative and end of life care. In addition, we have funded Alzheimer Scotland’s national specialist nurse to take forward a review of specialist NHS dementia care. We expect that this report will be published within the next couple of months. The review will include an overall assessment of the quality of current provision, how well services are integrated within the broader health and social care landscape and recommendations on how services might be re-configured locally as part of the wider picture of whole-system re-design.

Question reference: S5W-14264

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 23 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13509 by Aileen Campbell on 11 January 2018, whether it will provide further details of how the funding is being used, including in relation to the number of researchers who are employed or contracted, and of salary and payments made to these researchers.

11 January 2018. The answer provides details of how the funding is being used.

The Data Protection Act (DPA)1998 requires the Scottish Government to process personal data fairly and lawfully. The funding provided by the Scottish Government has been used to fund a very small number of posts, therefore, releasing further information could lead to individuals being identified which would breach their right to privacy.

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

Question reference: S5W-14378

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that mentors in the Return to Practice scheme for nurses and midwives receive appropriate training to cater for the specific needs of the students.

The Return to Practice programmes are approved and monitored by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and must meet all of their requirements; this includes support and mentorship in practice by a qualified mentor and final assessment by a ‘sign-off’ mentor.

All mentors must complete a mentor preparation programme and have regular mentor updates according to NMC criteria. The sign off mentor has additional preparation for the role and must have experience as a sign off mentor.

Question reference: S5W-14379

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the effectiveness of the Return to Practice scheme for nurses and midwives, and whether it has plans to expand it.

Return to Practice programmes for former nurses and midwives whose registration has lapsed across Scotland are administered by NHS Education Scotland (NES).

Scottish Government funding for Return to Practice schemes was reintroduced in April 2015. Since then, almost 380 former nurses and midwives have commenced Return to Practice programmes, exceeding the initial target of attracting back 75 former nurses and midwives each year.

NES is currently planning an evaluation of both the nursing and midwifery programmes which will include reviewing participants’ experience and the impact of the programmes.

As part of a package of measures to increase the number of nurses and midwives working in Scotland we will extend and expand the highly successful Return to Practice programme as well as delivering an estimated 2,600 additional nursing and midwifery training places, enhanced access programmes for support workers, and improving recruitment, retention and completion rates, particularly in remote and rural areas.

Question reference: S5W-14211

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 20 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it will provide to (a) Action for ME and (b) other ME-related organisations in 2018-19.

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