Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-26929

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the findings in the Kidney Care UK report, In-centre Dialysis Transport in Scotland, what steps it is taking to reduce any variation between NHS boards in access to free non-emergency kidney patient transport for all kidney patients, regardless of income, to and from in-centre dialysis appointments.

The Scottish Government’s role is to set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, NHS Boards are responsible for service delivery and treatment. A requirement has been placed within the NHS Territorial Boards annual delivery guidance to bring attention to the requirement for the Boards to consider transport to health for patients and ensure patients have access to information.

The Transport (Scotland) Act section 120 and 121 commenced in 2023, placing a requirement on Boards to work with community transport providers and consider the economic and social impacts of non-emergency patient transport.

Question reference: S6W-26930

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to develop a national framework for non-emergency kidney patient transport to and from in-centre dialysis appointments, in light of the findings in the Kidney Care UK report, In-centre Dialysis Transport in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that people living with kidney diseases are able to access the best possible care and support and that they benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective, and put people at the centre of their care.

The Scottish Government recognises that Transport plays an important role in supporting patients’ health journeys and the Scottish Government has recently prepared a draft Transport to Health delivery plan which has commitments against transport and healthcare across the work of Health Boards including Scottish Ambulance Service, Regional Transport Partnerships and Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6W-26931

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the findings in the Kidney Care UK report, In-centre Dialysis Transport in Scotland, what plans it has to review non-emergency kidney patient transport to and from in-centre dialysis appointments across Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s role is to set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, NHS Boards are responsible for service delivery and treatment. All Health Boards should consider patient transport needs when they plan and deliver services and must ensure Patients have access to all information on any relevant patient transport (including community transport) and travel reimbursement entitlement.

Question reference: S6W-26743

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to sustainably fund Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) for the long-term, to ensure that it can provide lifeline care and support to children and families in light of the reported rising costs and increased need for its services.

Question reference: S6W-26755

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to continue with the fee structure for optometrists, which has been aligned to the dentistry fee structure for the past three years.

Question reference: S6W-26756

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many ophthalmology training places have been provided at universities for Scottish domiciled students in each of the last five academic years, and how many places are planned for the current academic year.

Question reference: S6O-03396

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what value it places on specialist alcohol services, such as the Primary Care Alcohol Nurse Outreach Service in Glasgow, in dealing with the reported public health crisis in relation to alcohol.

Question reference: S6W-26761

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many people are currently waiting for an initial assessment of hearing loss in each NHS board area, also broken down by what the (a) average and (b) longest waiting time for such an assessment is in each NHS board.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) does not hold the information requested.

PHS uses the national waiting times datamart to collect electronic patient records covering the waits that patients experience waiting for a new outpatient appointment at a consultant led clinic. If a patient has been referred to a hearing loss clinic led by an audiologist, then those waits are not captured in the national dataset. On occasions where patients are referred directly to be assessed by an ear, nose & throat (ENT) consultant then those waits are included in the official statistics reported for ENT in the following link.

However, the data captured nationally does not allow for the identification of specific clinics and services within any specialty. https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/25286/newop_feb24.xlsx

Question reference: S6W-26726

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 26 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason training places for radiology students reportedly decreased between 2023 and 2024.

The number of established clinical radiology training posts in Scotland has not decreased between 2023 and 2024 in any region. There are 192 established posts in clinical radiology spread across the five year training programme (ST1-ST5) and this has been the case since 2022 i.e. since the latest funded increase was applied. The number of posts advertised per year by NHS Education for Scotland is determined by two factors: i) the number of vacant posts, due to trainees completing training, resigning from post or undergoing an inter-deanery transfer, and ii) whether any additional posts have been created. The number of posts which are available for new applicants to apply for varies annually due to trainees working on a part-time basis (and therefore taking longer to complete training and vacate their post).

Question reference: S6W-26727

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 26 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason training places for radiology students reportedly decreased for the West of Scotland training centre/region from 19 places in August 2023 to six places in August 2024.

The number of established clinical radiology training posts in Scotland has not decreased between 2023 and 2024 in any region. There are 192 established posts in clinical radiology spread across the five year training programme (ST1-ST5) and this has been the case since 2022 i.e. since the latest funded increase was applied. The number of posts advertised per year by NHS Education for Scotland is determined by two factors: i) the number of vacant posts, due to trainees completing training, resigning from post or undergoing an inter-deanery transfer, and ii) whether any additional posts have been created. The number of posts which are available for new applicants to apply for varies annually due to trainees working on a part-time basis (and therefore taking longer to complete training and vacate their post).

Chamber and committees