- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 February 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 February 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what data and evidence it collects to determine whether people with terminal illnesses are able to access palliative care services across all settings.
Answer
We do not have a single measure that captures performance against this aim, as the provision of palliative care depends on the interaction of a range of services - formal palliative care, care at home and care home services, and access to hospice and hospice-at-home services - that vary considerably in definition between local systems. Good care at end of life requires collaborative, multi-disciplinary support, which is why Integration Authorities have been given statutory responsibility for meeting this need. Integration Authorities regularly report on their progress using the 23 indicators ( ) that support the statutory outcomes set out in the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014.
The indicator currently used nationally to measure progress on improving palliative and end of life care provision is the percentage of last six months of life spent in the community. We recognise its limitations of measuring only the place of care, rather than quality or experience of care, and that it is not sufficient on its own. We will be reflecting on the lessons learned during the pandemic and intend to work with partners and stakeholders to develop better systems to support this aim.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 February 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 February 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made towards its vision that by 2021 everyone who needs palliative care will have access to it.
Answer
Care for people towards the end of life is an important priority for the Scottish Government. Good care at end of life requires collaborative, multi-disciplinary support, which is why Integration Authorities have been given statutory responsibility for meeting this need. Integration Authorities regularly report on their progress using the 23 indicators ( ) that support the statutory outcomes set out in the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 February 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 February 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce mandatory palliative and end-of-life care training for all health and social care staff who work with terminally ill people, including care home staff.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that health and social care professionals have the knowledge, skills and confidence to provide high quality palliative and end of life care, relevant to their role.
In April 2018, we published a palliative and end of life care Educational Framework that can be used in all health and social care settings to support staff, including care home staff, who care for those with palliative and end of life care needs in their professional development. This is available at: .
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 February 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 February 2021
To ask the Scottish Government when the National Digital Platform will be rolled out, and what training will be provided on its use for health and social care staff.
Answer
The National Digital Platform is not a single system but a range of products and tools that are becoming available over time, with development led by NHS Education for Scotland (NES). Its main purpose is to provide the underpinning technologies that make available appropriate health and care information whenever and wherever it is needed. Core components such as a secure cloud environment, user authentication and access controls, data repositories and integration capabilities are now largely in place. The platform is currently being used to support our Covid 19 response, for example by holding the national Vaccination Record and hosting the Protect Scotland App. A number of products are in development that will use and enhance platform capability, including the OpenEyes Electronic Patient Record (EPR) for eyecare services in Scotland, the ReSPECT emergency anticipatory care planning tool and the development of Cancer Treatment Summaries.
NES also lead on overall workforce development for digital health & care, and are ensuring that all staff will be suitably digitally skilled, with training and support in place for the introduction of any new tools and services.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 February 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 February 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many offers of support it has received from companies on matters relating to the COVID-19 pandemic since it began.
Answer
Scottish Ministers issued an appeal to businesses on 22 March 2020 for support in accessing critical health supplies, including personal protective equipment (PPE), hand sanitiser, test kits, ventilators and related oxygen equipment. Offers were initially collected through a dedicated Scottish Government mailbox and then via an online portal managed by National Services Scotland (NSS). The NSS portal was closed to new offers on 19 June 2020 due to the stabilisation of health supply chains. At this date, normal procurement processes were resumed.
The total number of offers processed via the Scottish Government mailbox was 2,846 and the total processed via the NHS portal was 2,048. It should be noted that these figures contain duplicate offers which were made via both the mailbox and NHS portal.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 February 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 15 February 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many new contracts it has awarded to companies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answer
The Scottish Government has awarded 578 contracts to external suppliers during the period of the pandemic. This figure is taken from the Scottish Government's contract register for the dates 15 March 2020 to the present (9 February 2021). Of these awards, 55 are thought to relate to the pandemic.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 February 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 15 February 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many cases of graffiti using spray paint have been reported to Police Scotland in each year since 2007.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. The data we receive from Police Scotland for production of the Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics is a simple count of the numbers of crimes and offences, for each local authority, which the police have recorded and cleared up. We do not receive further details on the characteristics and circumstances of individual crimes, therefore we are unable to identify how many crimes of vandalism were in relation to graffiti using spray paint. Time series information on the total number of crimes of vandalism recorded by the police is available from the Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics (a link to the latest publication is found here: ).
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 February 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 February 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS Lothian regarding the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion in each year since 2007.
Answer
The Scottish Government has discussions with NHS Lothian regularly regarding its capital investment plans, including its plans for the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 February 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Clare Haughey on 11 February 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-26493 by Clare Haughey on 9 December 2019, whether it will provide the same information for 2019-20.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Scottish Health Service Costs are published annually by Public Health Scotland.
Publication of data for 2019-20, which includes Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services spending, has been further delayed and is expected to be published on 23 February 2021.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 February 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 February 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how much hospital waste has been (a) generated and (b) stored at sites in Scotland in each month in (i) 2020 and (ii) 2021.
Answer
a) The following table shows the amount of clinical waste generated by the NHS in Scotland in 2020 and 2021:
Year | Month | Waste (tonnes) |
2020 | January | 1,568 |
February | 1,472 |
March | 1,602 |
April | 1,415 |
May | 1,404 |
June | 1,528 |
July | 1,605 |
August | 1,926 |
September | 1,637 |
October | 1,701 |
November | 1,690 |
December | 1,634 |
2021 | January | 1,578 |
b) NHS sites do not routinely store waste, waste that is generated on site remains on site until the next scheduled collection.