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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-26207

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to improve equity of access to Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services, particularly in Scotland's more remote and rural NHS boards.

Officials met with every Health Board’s Cancer Management Team in Scotland, including the Island Boards, in March 2024 to discuss their plans for establishing a Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service (RCDS). The commitment remains, as reflected in Scotland’s Cancer Strategy, to achieve population coverage of an RCDS for eligible patients by Spring 2026.

The recent University of Strathclyde evaluation report https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/88280/7/Maguire-etal-2024-Final-report-of-the-evaluation-of-rapid-cancer-diagnostic-services.pdf showed that a virtual model is well accepted by patients and will be considered by Boards in the North of Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-26204

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what data it holds on how many patients have been diagnosed with a blood cancer through Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services.

The recently published University of Strathclyde evaluation report https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/88280/7/Maguire-etal-2024-Final-report-of-the-evaluation-of-rapid-cancer-diagnostic-services.pdf showed that 13.5% of cancers diagnosed through the Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDS) were blood cancers.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on exact numbers but work is underway with Public Health Scotland to create a national RCDS data-set.

Question reference: S6W-26206

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) NHS Scotland and (b) the relevant NHS boards regarding the provision of recurrent funding for (i) existing and (ii) future Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services.

Question reference: S6W-26208

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 2 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of research published by the University of Aberdeen, which reports that cancer patients living in rural areas experience poorer outcomes, and what action it is taking to ensure equitable cancer care across all of Scotland's geography.

The Scottish Government welcomes the research published by the University of Aberdeen. We recognise that this data covers the time period between 2007 and 2017 and that there will have been continued service innovation in recent years including, for example, the roll out of Near Me.

However it is clear that improvements are needed. Our strategic aim, as reflected in the Cancer Strategy for Scotland (2023-33), is to improve cancer survival and provide excellent, equitably accessible care. One of our 11 ambitions in the strategy is Tackling Inequalities.

A Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the cancer strategy and plan was published in August 2023. A planned external evaluation will focus on inequalities, particularly social deprivation and geographies.

We are committed to understanding patients’ experiences, gaining opportunities for improvement and sharing good practice examples to ensure equitable cancer care. The first mail out of our latest Cancer Patient Experience Survey was sent on 14th February helping us work towards this aim.

Question reference: S6W-26189

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to provide funding for defibrillators to be made available in all schools across Scotland.

As set out in answer S6W-14642 on 6 March 2023 , funding for local authorities is provided through the annual block grant settlement from the Scottish Government. Local authorities should use funding resources allocated to them in the manner which they believe will best meet local needs and circumstances within their respective areas.

Therefore, decisions on the installation and maintenance of defibrillators in schools is a matter for local authorities to consider at the local level.

A number of organisations provide advice and support for the purchasing and maintenance of defibrillators. This includes:

The British Heart Foundation: https://www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/how-to-save-a-life/defibrillators/apply-for-a-public-access-defibrillator

St Johns Scotland Public Access Community Defibrillators | St John Scotland .

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Question reference: S6O-03220

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it is providing to the arts sector in Dumfries and Galloway.

Question reference: S6W-25689

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to complete the Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey on a yearly basis.

Question reference: S6W-25691

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether it remains committed to expanding the number of Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services to ensure population-based coverage.

As reflected in Scotland’s Cancer Strategy for Scotland, published June 2023, we are committed to “expanding and evaluating Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services to ensure population-based coverage”.

The University of Strathclyde published a final evaluation report on 29 February 2024 reflecting on the successful first two years of RCDSs operating in NHS Scotland. This work was commissioned to inform roll-out, including optimal components. Following its release, we’ll work with Boards across Scotland to consider the findings and ensure learning is embedded.

Question reference: S6W-25688

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place to ensure that data for all cancer types, including haematological cancers, is collected in each of Scotland's 14 NHS boards as part of the 2024 Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey.

The Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey is designed to collect information on experiences of all cancer types involving an inpatient stay or day case, where it is appropriate to do so. 10% of responses to the 2018 Cancer Patient Experience Survey were from patients with haematological cancers.

To ensure a sufficiently large response to the Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey, a census approach was taken. This means that surveys were sent to all eligible patients, rather than just a restricted sample of them. Just under 8,800 people were invited to participate in the 2024 Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey.

To maximise the survey response and make the survey as accessible as possible, so that we collect information on the experiences of as many people as possible, the survey can be completed online, on paper or over the phone. A language line is available for those who do not speak English and the online questionnaire contains a number of accessibility features including the ability to change font size, the option to switch to a high-contrast colour scheme and screen-reader compatibility.

The sample was selected from a national dataset containing records of acute hospital activity (SMR01) to identify people aged 16 or over with an inpatient or day case record with any mention of cancer and a discharge date between 10 October 2022 and the 30 June 2023.

In order to confirm the diagnosis of cancer, and to minimise the risk of sending surveys to patients who did not have cancer, the Scottish Cancer Registry (SMR06) was used to quality assure the survey sample. Individuals who were identified from the hospital records, but did not have a confirmed Scottish Cancer Registry diagnosis were excluded from the sample.

It's critical that we minimise the risk of causing distress to the survey recipients when carrying out the survey. To minimise the risk of distress, some patients are excluded from the survey because the patient may not recognise their diagnosis as cancer or the cancer has complex clinical definitions. These include:

Patients whose tumour morphology is defined within the Scottish Cancer Registry (SMR06) as benign, uncertain or in situ.
Patients with non-melanoma skin cancers (ICD10 code C44).
Patients with rare haematological cancers with complex clinical definitions (ICD10 code of C84).
Patients with Carcinoma in situ of breast (ICD10 code of D05).
Patients with insulinoma (ICD03 code of 81513).

An analysis of 2024 Cancer Patient Experience Survey results by cancer type will be one of the outputs of the survey.

Question reference: S6W-25690

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its final evaluation of Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services.