Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

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 ��˿�� 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-24096

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients who have started an initial consultation through the NHS have gone on to have surgery in the private sector in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S5W-24109

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) average and (b) longest waiting time to access cognitive therapy has been for people with an eating disorder in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S5W-24182

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many pharmacists have been based in GP surgeries in each year since 2007, broken down by NHS board.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information in the manner requested. Prior to June 2015 arrangements for pharmacists in GP practices were local agreements put in place at Board level. However, from June 2015 the Primary Care Fund was allocated to Boards to recruit pharmacists with advanced clinical skills training, or those undertaking the training, to GP practices.

Therefore data for centrally funded posts exists from June 2015 onwards.

As at March 2019, Boards indicated they have recruited 320.2 wte pharmacists and 90.6 wte technicians to GP practices. The breakdown by Board is as follows :

Board	Pharmacists (wte)	Technicians (wte)
Ayrshire & Arran	31.1	11.4
Borders	6.3	3.4
Dumfries & Galloway	13.1	7
Fife	16.9	6.1
Forth Valley	29.1	2
Grampian	31.2	7.9
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	58.3	14.6
Highland	28.1	5.1
Lanarkshire	47.2	11
Lothian	38.5	5.1
Orkney	3.5	1.5
Shetland	3	0.5
Tayside	9.9	15
Western Isles	4	0
Total	320.2	90.6

Whilst this breakdown shows Primary Care Funded posts, Boards will also have pharmacists in GP practices who have been funded by other funding streams – this data would only be available directly from Boards.

Question reference: S5W-24172

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many GPs have been working in private GP services in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S5W-24164

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many NHS prescriptions have been issued in each year since 2007, and how many were not collected.

Information on the number of prescription issued and uncollected within the time periods requested is not readily available.

Each community pharmacy contractor will have a standard operating procedure for dispensing medicine which will include how to deal with uncollected items. However, it is common practice for any medicines not collected and which have not left the premises to be returned to stock for re-use if appropriate, and no reimbursement payment is made for the medicine in this case. Prescription forms for uncollected medicines are then passed by community pharmacies to NHS National Services Scotland Practitioner and Counter Fraud Services for processing, endorsed by the pharmacy as “item not collected”.

The reasons why a prescription item may be uncollected are multifaceted. However, a new medicine intervention support tool has been introduced allowing community pharmacists to provide structured and tailored support to patients. This should increase adherence to new medicines, in turn reducing the number of uncollected items due to poor adherence.

The Scottish Government has not issued any specific guidance on the reuse of uncollected prescriptions. Practitioner and Counter Fraud Services and Community Pharmacy Scotland publish Endorsing Guidance which provides guidance on how to endorse prescriptions for any items not collected.

Question reference: S5W-24184

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many referrals have been made using the ALISS (A Local Information System for Scotland) mental health service in each year since 2007, broken down by NHS board.

ALISS is an on-line directory service, openly accessible to all, which lists community assets and connects people with sources of support in their area to help them to manage their own health conditions effectively. The directory includes sources of support in the community across the full range of health and care services, not just mental health. It does not record information about referrals made by GPs. Information on the number of referrals broken down by NHS board is therefore not available.

Question reference: S5W-24169

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many NHS patients have sought advice on the use of medical cannabis since 2007.

Question reference: S5W-24170

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many people have been admitted into acute NHS settings from care homes in each year since 2007, also broken down by NHS board.

The number of admissions from care homes to NHS hospitals for each NHS Board is shown in the following table, by calendar year. It should be noted that an individual patient may be counted more than once if they were admitted from a care home on multiple separate occasions.

NHS Board of Treatment	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	483	419	1,023	1,245	556	813	684	636	813	1,084	1,704	1,444
NHS Borders	365	296	312	236	216	234	193	185	175	167	113	85
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	16	175	462	452	492	464	380	464	411	484	477	441
NHS Fife	983	969	1,121	1,068	1,003	1,123	1,171	1,154	1,309	1,334	1,242	1,218
NHS Forth Valley	526	455	438	304	278	322	374	355	293	297	287	219
NHS Grampian	1,183	1,081	1,177	1,162	1,004	972	745	633	597	593	545	592
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	1,523	1,346	1,464	1,489	1,534	1,303	397	332	441	274	253	526
NHS Highland	617	734	654	612	524	511	494	391	379	365	334	370
NHS Lanarkshire	584	597	497	419	263	151	105	102	95	91	101	107
NHS Lothian	480	259	210	218	289	250	236	218	228	212	206	155
NHS Orkney	5	*	39	54	37	38	35	36	43	48	32	43
NHS Shetland	77	50	44	45	72	71	68	53	63	91	93	109
NHS Tayside	942	917	1,071	1,322	1,182	1,191	1,208	1,278	1,213	1,192	927	617
NHS Western Isles	11	*	72	95	109	64	49	20	15	12	11	22

Source : SMR01, ISD Scotland

* Indicates values that have been suppressed due to the potential risk of disclosure to help maintain patient confidentiality

Question reference: S5W-23838

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many contracts NHS Scotland has signed with private firms since 1 January 2019, broken down by service area covered and (a) total and (b) individual value.

Question reference: S5W-23998

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 17 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that children receive their second course of the MMR vaccine without undue delays after the first course, and what guidelines exist regarding the timing of the courses of the MMR vaccination.

The MMR vaccine is given as part of the NHS Scotland routine childhood vaccination programme. One dose is usually given to a child when they are 12 to 13 months old, and a second dose is given from age 3 years 4 months.

The Scottish Immunisation & Recall System (SIRS) ensures that children under the age of six years receive the appropriate immunisation according to the childhood immunisation schedule, including MMR vaccination. ‘Immunisation against Infectious Disease' also known as the "Green Book" sets out the clinical guidelines in relation to vaccination programmes including the scheduling of vaccines.