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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-20935

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 4 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many hours of dedicated pelvic pain management is provided to support people with (a) endometriosis and (b) other pelvic pain conditions, broken down by NHS board.

This information regarding endometriosis and other pelvic pain conditions is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government has commissioned the development of a Core Minimum Dataset (CMD) to be collected by all specialist pain services, and a series of Quality Performance Indicators (QPIs).

These will be evidence-based, use routinely-collected data where possible, and have been subject to two consultation exercises. We are currently working with ISD to establish methods of integrating the necessary data collection into NHS IT systems, with a view to piloting this as soon as this is ready.

Once the data from CMD and QPIs are available, we will be able to report baseline and outcome characteristics of patients attending pain services (including cause and severity of pain, and its impact); and the nature and quality of service provision. This will include people with endometriosis and other pelvic pain conditions where they are seen by a specialist pain service but not any that are being treated by gynaecologists out with the pain service.

We will also be able to compare services between regions and changes over time, as well as evaluating the effectiveness of service improvement initiatives. Further information is available at the NHS Research Scotland Website: http://www.nhsresearchscotland.org.uk/research-areas/pain/sub-page-2

Question reference: S5W-20933

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 4 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much the Glasgow endometriosis centre has been allocated to fund consultants dedicated in (a) gynaecology, (b) pain management, (c) colorectal surgery and (d) urology, and how many hours per role this funds.

The West of Scotland dedicated BSGE Accredited Severe Endometriosis Service is expected to be up and running from April 2019 and is being funded through local NHS Health Boards. It will bring together work that was previously dispersed across different sites. The following table sets out the planned uplift from existing services, as well as additional funds that will enable supporting surgical support to ring fence capacity, which will be used to establish this centre.

	Funding	Hours
Gynaecology	Uplift from existing services	75 hours	2.0 wte
Pain Management	Uplift from existing services
Colorectal	£60,000	18.5 hours	0.5 wte
Urology	£12,600	3.5 hours	0.10

Question reference: S5W-21132

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 1 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many people have alopecia, broken down by (a) age group, (b) gender and (c) NHS board.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. However, the Scottish Burden of Disease project, in producing estimates of the overall prevalence of skin and subcutaneous diseases in Scotland, has considered a number of conditions/diseases including alopecia. Further information is available from the link below: https://www.scotpho.org.uk/media/1775/sbod2016-skindiseases.pdf

Question reference: S5O-02865

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many school pupils have died by suicide in the last five years and what action it has taken in response to this.

Question reference: S5W-19649

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 29 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many private patients are receiving NHS treatment; how many (a) beds and (b) wards have been ring-fenced or reserved for their use, and what analysis it has carried out of the impact of this on NHS patients.

The numbers of private patients who received NHS treatment in 2017-18 in Scotland was just over 2,000. I have been clear with boards that they should only deal with private patients in circumstances where life is at risk, on that basis, I can confirm that NHS Boards do not ring fence beds for private patients use.

I have also asked officials to undertake a review of the guidance to ensure that there is no disadvantage whatsoever to NHS patients waiting for treatment.

Question reference: S5W-20924

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 29 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the research by Edinburgh Napier University regarding the lifestyle of healthcare workers and the reported potential negative impact of social care working conditions and pay on their lifestyles.

We value our social care workforce and are committed to raising the status of social care as a profession. That is why we have enabled, for the first time, adult care workers in Scotland to be paid the real Living Wage from October 2016, a move which is benefiting up to 40,000 people in the social services sector, and have provided resource over the last two years to cover the extension of the real Living Wage to sleepover hours during 2018-19.

We are also working with COSLA, care providers and other partners to improve careers and workforce planning for this trained and dedicated workforce under the national Health and Social Care Workforce Plan.

Employers have a duty of care to protect the health and safety of their workers. It is also in their interests to invest in promoting the health and wellbeing of their employees.

Question reference: S5W-20889

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 22 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is has been made aware of concerns regarding any NHS boards not fulfilling their legal duty to provide age-appropriate mental health services and accommodation in the last three years and, if so, (a) which boards, (b) when these concerns were raised and (c) what action it took and what the outcome was.

We are not aware of any formally registered concerns regarding NHS Boards not fulfilling their legal duty to provide age-appropriate mental health services and accommodation in the last three years.

We recently welcomed publication of the Mental Welfare Commission’s Annual Report on young people in adult wards, which showed a small increase in the numbers of young people being treated in adult wards. There are some reasons why it may not always be possible for a young person to be admitted to a specialist child and adolescent bed – for example, a crisis admission out of hours where there are concerns for the young person’s safety, or where a specialist facility might be a considerable distance from family support that could help recovery. However, as specified in the answer to question S5W-20886 on 22 January 2019, the Government is taking direct action to address the findings of the report.

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-20922

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many times in each of the last three years hospitals have been affected by linen shortages, broken down by NHS board.

In the last three years, two NHS Boards have reported a single occurrence of experiencing a shortage in linen supplies - NHS Ayrshire and Arran and NHS Highland.

Additionally, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have had reported 31 instances within this time frame, however each of these instances were due to the on-site supply and distribution of linen, rather than issues relating to the deliveries of linen from the Area Laundry to the respective sites.

No other NHS Board has reported instances of linen shortages.

Question reference: S5W-20886

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 22 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to ensure that NHS boards fulfil their legal duty to provide age-appropriate mental health services.

We expect NHS Boards to provide safe, effective, and age-appropriate care and services which support the needs of each individual patient.

Regarding CAMH services, this includes issues regarding the admission of young people to adult wards. In this context, we welcomed the recent publication of the Mental Welfare Commission’s annual report and have agreed with its recommendations to improve the efficiency of bed use and the provision of intensive psychiatric care. Our Mental Health Strategy commits to developing a protocol for admissions to non-specialist wards which is currently being finalised. The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Taskforce will also consider pathways into specialist services for young people.

We have also taken action on transitions between CAMHS and Adult Services. On 29 August 2018 we launched new Transition Care Plans (TCPs) to help young people move more smoothly from child and adolescent services to adult services. The TCPs have been designed entirely by young people, working with the Scottish Youth Parliament and in dialogue with clinicians.

Question reference: S5W-20923

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Royal College of Nursing's reported comment that long shifts and stressful working conditions contribute to unhealthy lifestyles for nursing staff.

I acknowledge that more can be done to improve the health and wellbeing of Scotland’s nurses that is why The Chief Nursing Officer for Scotland published the ‘Nursing 2030 Vision: Promoting Confident, Competent and Collaborative Nursing for Scotland’s Future ’ in July 2017. This report sets the direction for the nursing profession across Scotland through to 2030 and acknowledges the importance of promoting nurses’ health and wellbeing. To support the implementation of the Nursing 2030 Vison, a detailed action plan, with a national oversight, is currently being developed. The action plan will be the mechanism for setting out how the Scottish Government intends to make the ideas in the Vision a reality over the short, medium and long term for nurses.

Shift patterns are set locally and in partnership between management and Staff Side representatives and must conform to Working Time Directive rules. If there were concerns about a particular shift pattern, this can be discussed as part of ongoing local partnership working.