Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-27055

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 31 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on people who are especially affected and distressed by tinnitus being fast-tracked through audiology services so that they can benefit from using hearing aids more quickly.

The decision to fast track people affected by tinnitus is a clinical one, based on the reported or presenting symptoms, and will be made as part of the vetting of referrals and/or following a specialist assessment, on an individual case by case basis. In most cases where there is sudden onset and distressing tinnitus, individuals would be prioritised as a matter of course. Hearing aids and specialist audiology support are provided through NHS audiology services, who can also signpost to local 3 rd sector organisations, including those which provide peer to peer support.

Question reference: S5W-26981

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 23 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has given further consideration to removing reference to chemical restraint from health and social care standards.

I refer the Member to the answer to question S5W-22466 on
‎ 23 May 2019. The legislation applicable for the use of chemical restraint makes clear that consent is required where an individual has capacity. Where an individual does not have capacity, the use of chemical restraint must only be applied in exceptional circumstances to the benefit of the individual.

The Health and Social Care Standards do not replace or remove the need to comply with legislation, which health and care services are expected to continue to follow. There are no plans to amend the Standards.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

Question reference: S5O-04063

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the number of children across Edinburgh who are living in temporary accommodation.

Question reference: S5W-26940

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 21 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-26324 by Jeane Freeman on 20 November 2019, how much of this additional funding has been claimed by optometrists through the General Ophthalmic Services contract under code 3 in relation to supplementary eye examinations.

Question reference: S5W-26782

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 15 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have received support for opioid addiction in each year since 2007.

Information Services Division Scotland publish quarterly statistics on treatment waiting times and types of treatment undertaken which shows how many treatments were started in that period. This information is available here - .

It should be noted, however, that it isn’t possible to say that the number of treatments started equals the number of individuals undertaking them as the same individual may drop-out and re-start a treatment.

Question reference: S5W-26778

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 15 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many additional operations have been carried out under the Waiting Times Improvement Plan.

Question reference: S5W-26800

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 14 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the recording of the use of restraint in NHS settings should be mandatory.

Health Boards in Scotland have a duty to ensure that they have policies in place covering all forms of restrictive practice and that all staff receive appropriate training.

It is the expectation that episodes of restraint are recorded in clinical case records, that a critical incident review should take place locally if an injury occurs during the use of restraint and that any serious injury is reported to the Mental Welfare Commission. Healthcare staff have a professional responsibility to accurately record all elements of a patient’s care and treatment, including any uses of restraint and the reasons for this.

Question reference: S5W-26799

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 9 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that restraint reduction network training standards should be made mandatory for all training with a restrictive intervention component that is delivered within NHS mental health and related services.

Health Boards in Scotland have a duty to ensure that they have policies in place covering all forms of restrictive practice and that all staff receive appropriate training.

It is the expectation that episodes of restraint are recorded in clinical case records, that a critical incident review should take place locally if an injury occurs during the use of restraint and that any serious injury is reported to the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland.

In 2019, I wrote to all Health Boards to confirm that they each had policies in place covering all forms of restrictive practice and that staff receive appropriate training.

Question reference: S5W-26798

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 9 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act 2018, and whether it has plans to introduce similar legislation for Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-26796

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 9 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the use of restraint in (a) education and (b) mental health settings.

Regarding the use of restraint in education, we anticipate that the new guidance on physical intervention and seclusion in schools will be published in January 2021. The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland and the Equality and Human Rights Commissioner reached agreement with the Scottish Government on the membership of the working group, which will meet for the first time in January 2020. There will be a full public consultation on the new guidance prior to publication.

The new guidance will be clear that physical intervention and seclusion should only ever be a last resort, and never used for disciplinary purposes. The guidance will sit within a ‘suite’ of documents in the ‘Included, Engaged and Involved’ series, that places at its core positive relationships and behaviour, and early intervention and prevention of the use of physical intervention and seclusion, as well as de-escalation techniques. We are committed to taking an explicitly human rights based approach to the new national guidance, which everyone can have confidence in.

Regarding use of restraint in mental health settings, the Scottish Government is clear that alternatives to physical restraint should always be considered first, and the use of physical restraint should only ever be a last resort, for the shortest period of time, to ensure safety. Health Boards have a duty to ensure that they have policies in place covering all forms of restrictive practice and that staff receive appropriate training.

The Scottish Patient Safety Programme for Mental Health has, over the last 6 years, led to reductions in restraint, self-harm, seclusion, and violence and aggression across a number of areas through collaboration and innovation from staff, service users and carers and the use of quality improvement and improvement science.

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