- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 September 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Aileen Campbell on 22 September 2016
To ask the Scottish Government how many complaints the NHS has received regarding over-intervention in patient treatment.
Answer
These complaint statistics are not held centrally.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 21 September 2016
To ask the Scottish Government how the £5 million in its cancer strategy to improve waiting times performance will be used to tackle reports of people with metastatic kidney cancer experiencing clinically significant delays between diagnosis and the beginning of treatment.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring all patients receive timely access to cancer tests and diagnostics. The funding identified in ‘Beating Cancer: Ambition and Action’ will ensure additional diagnostic, scope, imaging and treatment capacity is made available to everyone with a suspected and/or cancer diagnosis.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 21 September 2016
To ask the Scottish Government how it will assess the impact of its cancer strategy on people with kidney cancer and, if it concludes that there has not been a significant improvement in outcomes, whether it will introduce further measures.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-02145 on 21 September 2016. 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: Thursday, 25 August 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 21 September 2016
To ask the Scottish Government how its cancer strategy will tackle the incidence of kidney cancer.
Answer
Our ‘Beating Cancer: Ambition and Action’ strategy and the accompanying £100 million investment over 5 years, serves as a blueprint for the future of cancer services in Scotland, improving the prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment and aftercare of people affected by all cancers. This work links with our tobacco control strategy and the Prevention of Obesity Route Map as we know that smoking and obesity are two of the biggest risk factors for renal cancer.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 21 September 2016
To ask the Scottish Government how it supports museums in Lothian.
Answer
The Scottish Government provides direct support to National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh and the National Mining Museum of Scotland in Midlothian. The Scottish Government also funds Museums Galleries Scotland to provide support to a range of local authority and independent museums and galleries across Scotland, including in the Lothians.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 September 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 21 September 2016
To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that patients and those making decisions about medication for minors are fully informed about the possible side effects of antidepressants prior to being taken.
Answer
Prescribers of any medication, to anyone, are required to explain the rationale for prescribing, the benefits, and the side effects.
NICE clinical guidelines [CG28] cover depression in children and young people, and contain guidance on the use of antidepressants. Information about known-side effects of prescribed medication can be found on the website of the Medicines And Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, at www.gov.uk/mhra.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 September 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 September 2016
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to upgrade the A720.
Answer
The Scottish Government remains committed to undertaking improvements on the A720, including at Sheriffhall. We continue to progress the option assessment process to identify a preferred option for the grade separation of Sheriffhall roundabout. I refer the member to the answer provided for S5W-00568 on 17 June 2016 for further information.
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, 09 September 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 September 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the levels of traffic on the A720.
Answer
Transport Scotland, on behalf of the Scottish Government, maintains a multi-modal model of traffic data which covers the area serviced by the A720. Traffic information is obtained from 39 automatic traffic counters which are located along the route. Information from this model can assist in forecasting future traffic demand on the region’s major roads.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 September 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 21 September 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what training and qualifications it expects mental health link workers in GP practices to have.
Answer
Links workers undergo a robust selection process to ensure they can work autonomously, are able to work with patients who have complex issues and prevent issues from being bounced back to the GP. The existing Links Workers funded by the Scottish Government come from a range of backgrounds including community development, nursing and some have counselling qualifications. Training and learning needs are included in their personal development plans and reflect the needs of the patients that Links Workers find themselves working with. This may include ASIST, Safetalk, Scotland’s Mental Health First Aid, motivational interviewing as well as other mandatory training.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 September 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 21 September 2016
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce changes to GP and other primary care sector training to ensure that there is parity of access to treatment between mental and physical health.
Answer
The requirements and content of the GP training curricula is a matter for the Royal College of General Practitioners, and is approved by the General Medical Council as regulator of the medical profession. This approach applies to the training requirements of the other health care professions.
The Scottish Government has no plans to seek changes to GP and other Primary Care sector training about ensuring parity of access to treatment between mental and physical health, as current training already emphasises equal importance to mental and physical illness and is not discriminatory. NHSScotland Health Boards together with general practice providers are, responsible for the provision of treatment.