Questions and answers

Question reference: S6O-01438

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making to develop its Fire and Rescue Framework for Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-10581

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on providing (a) staff bank cover and (b) agency staff cover in each NHS board area in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6W-10584

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what work it has done to develop and set up a publicly owned nursing agency to assist NHS boards when they have staffing shortages.

It is important that NHS Boards can call on additional staffing when required, in order to deal with the exigencies of the service. It is for NHS Boards to decide when the additional support represented by agency staffing is required but the Scottish Government is clear that Boards should always make use of NHS bank staff as a first choice and the majority of additional staffing needs are met through NHS Scotland’s well established bank system. These act as, de facto, in house agencies. We have over 35,000 nurses registered on NHS Scotland Staff Banks. It would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to establish a commercial agency. Combined spending on all agency staff (medical and nursing) remains less than 1% of the overall NHS Scotland budget.

Question reference: S6W-10580

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to (a) instruct NHS boards not to use private nursing agencies and (b) establish an in-house government agency for such purposes.

It is important that NHS Boards can call on additional staffing when required, in order to deal with the exigencies of the service. It is for NHS Boards to decide when the additional support represented by agency staffing is required but the Scottish Government is clear that Boards should always make use of NHS bank staff as a first choice and the majority of additional staffing needs are met through NHS Scotland’s well established bank system. These act as, de facto, in house agencies. We have over 35,000 nurses registered on NHS Scotland Staff Banks. It would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to establish a commercial agency. Combined spending on all agency staff (medical and nursing) remains less than 1% of the overall NHS Scotland budget.

Question reference: S6W-10578

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on how it is possible for NHS Tayside to achieve 83.8% of patients seen within the four-hour A&E target, in light of NHS Fife reportedly only achieving 54.3%.

As you will know our hospitals, particularly across the central belt, are under significant pressure due to the direct and indirect consequences of the pandemic which is impacting on A&E performance.

We recognise the good work underway in each of our Health Boards to implement performance improvement measures. Although NHS Tayside is of a comparable size to some of the other central belt Health Boards, there are substantial differences between the Boards, particularly in terms of geography and population demographics.

NHS Tayside is regularly one of the higher performing mainland Health Boards, with well-established processes and models of care. Through our new National Urgent and Unscheduled Care Collaborative we are actively encouraging the sharing of learning and good practice between Health Boards. To help facilitate this, we are hosting a learning event on 19 October where representatives from all of Scotland’s Health Boards will participate.

Question reference: S6W-10582

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many shifts have been provided by (a) staff bank and (b) agencies in each NHS board area in each of the last 10 years.

The requested information on how many shifts have been provided by (a) staff bank and (b) agencies in each NHS board area in each of the last 10 years is not held centrally.

Information on the total hours worked by Nursing and Midwifery bank and agency staff by NHS board since March 2012 can be found on the following link: NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence (Bank and Agency) tab, change measure to 'hours worked'.

Question reference: S6W-10579

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on how it is possible for NHS Tayside to achieve 83.8% of patients seen within the four-hour A&E target, in light of NHS Forth Valley reportedly only achieving 41.7%.

Question reference: S6W-10583

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the average pay is per shift for an (a) NHS nurse and (b) agency nurse, broken down by grade.

Question reference: S6W-10782

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many children have been identified as food insecure in each of the last 10 years.

Rates of food insecurity, at household level, have been measured by the Family Resources Survey (FRS) since 2019.

The data for Scotland show that, in 2019-2020, 75% of children lived in households that were food secure; 10% lived in households that were marginally secure. The remaining 15% lived in households that were food insecure (8% ‘low’ food security and 7% 'very low' food security).

Due to the impact of COVID-19 on data collection, the quality of the data from the latest FRS (2020/2021) did not meet official statistics standards. The 2019-2020 survey is, therefore, the latest valid measure.

The Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) has also measured food insecurity rates for individual adults since 2017; the data are not directly comparable to the FRS. The rate of food insecurity for SHeS respondents from households with children was 11% in 2017-2018, and 12% in 2018-2019.

Question reference: S6W-10385

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported increase in the number of people using private healthcare.

Over the last two and a half years, our NHS has suffered the biggest shock of its 74-year existence. Caring for large numbers of patients seriously unwell with COVID-19 has inevitably meant that planned care procedures have had to be delayed, and while we are working hard to recover and remobilise our NHS, this will not be done in a few weeks or even months. Throughout the pandemic, NHS Boards have ensured that urgent, maternity and vital cancer services continue as usual. Addressing the backlog of care, while continuing to meet the ongoing urgent health and care needs of the country, remains a priority for this Government.

We recognise the impact long waiting times can have on patients. That is why we have introduced a new set of ambitious targets for NHS Scotland to address the backlog of planned care. Key targets are to eliminate:

Two-year waits for outpatients in most specialities by the end of August 2022
18-month waits for outpatients in most specialities by the end of December 2022
One-year waits for outpatients in most specialities by the end of March 2023
Two-year waits for inpatient / daycases in most specialities by the end of September 2022
18-month waits for inpatient / daycases in most specialities by the end of September 2023
One-year waits for inpatient / daycases in most specialities by the end of September 2024

We are working with NHS Boards to maximise capacity to meet these targets and have increased the flexibility Health Boards and clinicians have to manage waiting lists, with a focus on eliminating long waits, as well as continuing to treat the most clinically urgent patients.

The latest Private Healthcare Information Network figures show Scotland has lower rates of self-pay admissions per head of population than England and Wales

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