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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-15315

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to ensure that doctors working in hospitals are provided with suitable, healthy and affordable food options, in light of a recent British Medical Association (BMA) survey, which found that many junior doctors are experiencing fatigue due to a poor diet at work.

We are working closely with NHS Boards to support a range of local initiatives designed to meet the basic and practical needs of junior doctors, and their teams. This includes access to quiet spaces to support health and wellbeing, the installation of lockers and further support to facilitate out of hours catering.

The Scottish Government is determined to deliver the recommendations of the Expert Working Group’s report on junior doctor wellbeing and have begun introducing further improvements to working conditions. We have met the key recommendation of limiting consecutive days of long shifts, with 100% compliance achieved in December 2022. We will continue to work with NHS Boards and employers to monitor and ensure this continues in the long-term.

In February 2023 we invited Boards to consider the purchase of small hot food appliances for all Doctors in Training in Secondary Care. We encouraged Boards to liaise with their local BMA rep around the specifics of the ask and are currently in the process of allocating budget to cover the purchase of appliances.

Question reference: S6W-15380

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent Prostate Cancer UK report into regional inequalities in diagnoses of prostate cancer, what its response is to the reported possibility that, in the course of diagnosis, pre-biopsy MRIs are not being routinely undertaken and assessed by a radiologist, thereby omitting the grading of tumours and undercutting the risk management of slow-growing, non-harmful prostate cancers, and whether it has investigated if any such practices have occurred.

We have noted this Prostate Cancer UK research and are discussing it with various clinicians and experts in the NHS. Currently, pre-biopsy MRIs are not mandated in Scotland. However the National Cancer Quality Steering Group utilise ‘Patients with prostate cancer who undergo biopsy should be evaluated initially with a pre-biopsy biparametric MRI (bpMRI) or multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) and reported using a PI-RADS/Likert system of gradings’ as a Quality Improvement Indicator.

In addition to this the Scottish Government is due to undertake a survey of health boards to determine the practises in this area throughout the country.

Question reference: S6W-15080

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it anticipates the impact will be on NHS Scotland laboratory transformation of the 19.4% reduction in genomics funding, as set out in the draft Budget 2023-24.

Following the 22-23 Emergency Budget Review genomics was allocated a revised budget of £5 million; this provided a £2.6 million increase on 22-21 funding. Therefore, the £5million budget allocation for genomics in 2023-24 represents a sustained investment in genomics.

Through the funding allocated so far in 2022-23, we have established the Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine and funded a genomics transformation team within NHS National Services Division, led by a Consultant Clinical Scientist and supported by Clinical Leads for rare disease and cancer.

The fiscal position remains challenging; however the development of our transformation plans for the NHS Genetic Laboratories and Genomics Strategy is ongoing.

To support this, the Transformation Team are developing an action plan in response to the NSS Major Services Review of Genetic services . The Strategic Network will be accountable for overseeing the delivery of that plan.

Question reference: S6W-15340

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many post-foundation specialty training post vacancies for junior doctors in NHS Scotland have not been filled in each year since 2018.

Question reference: S6W-15061

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average length of time is for which agreed interim care placements are in place, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-15117

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been employed in cancer diagnostic and treatment services in each NHS board in each year since 1999.

The information requested on how many people have been employed in cancer diagnostic and treatment services in each NHS board in each year since 1999 is not held by the Scottish Government. Healthcare professionals involved in diagnostics and treatment are not always exclusively dedicated to one disease group such as cancer.

Information on staff in post from 2012 onwards, broken down by NHS Board, can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

Question reference: S6W-15118

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans will be included in its new cancer strategy to develop a workforce plan for cancer diagnostic and treatment services.

We are considering workforce as one of the key pillars in our new cancer strategy, which we anticipate will be published in spring this year. The cancer strategy will align with the Health and Social Care: National Workforce Strategy, published in 2022.

A public consultation was held early on in the process of developing the new strategy, which included engagement with professionals working in cancer services.

Question reference: S6W-15087

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what specific support it is providing to staff employed by the Glasgow Lighthouse Lab who are at risk of redundancy.

Scottish Government Officials have had contact with representatives of the University of Glasgow and met with representatives of UNITE on 10 January to discuss recent developments in respect of the Glasgow Lighthouse Lab which is contracted by the UK Government until March 2023 to undertake processing of PCR tests as part of the COVID-19 Infection Survey (CIS). The CIS is outwith the control of the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government has provided support to affected University of Glasgow staff through its Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) initiative and will continue to provide such support to any impacted staff as may be required.

Question reference: S6W-14708

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many referrals have been made to Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland’s Long COVID Support Service in each month since it was established.

Question reference: S6W-15175

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how NHS boards monitor any instances of patient misdiagnosis.

NHS Health Boards are responsible for delivering safe, effective and person-centred care at a local level, which includes identifying and monitoring instances of patient misdiagnosis. This will be through a number of processes such as Adverse Event reviews, the NHS Model Complaints Handling Procedure, Organisational Duty of Candour and Scottish Public Services Ombudsman investigation reports, amongst others.

The Scottish Government and NHS Health Boards work closely together to ensure local policy and processes are implemented and improved in line with national policy and frameworks.

	Advertised	Filled	Fill Rate	Unfilled
2018	1,125	958	85%	167
2019	1,096	1,015	93%	81
2020	1,062	1,015	96%	47
2021	1,088	1,020	94%	68
2022	1,155	1,073	93%	82