- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2018
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 18 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20080 by Jamie Hepburn on 4 December 2018, whether it will provide the information broken down by occupational sector.
Answer
Modern Apprenticeship statistical data is currently collated by Skills Development Scotland against occupational group and framework, and not by employer occupational sector.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 07 December 2018
-
Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 18 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-19993 by Joe Fitzpatrick on 3 December 2018, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding which NHS boards have a backlog for breast screening examinations, broken down by length of backlog; how many women at each centre have been waiting for more than three weeks for a screening; whether it will provide a breakdown of the reasons given by each centre for the delays, and by what date it expects each centre to operate without delays, and how it will monitor progress with this.
Answer
Information on delays within the Scottish Breast Screening Programme are recorded by six regional Breast Screening centres.
As of September 2018, the delays range from 1 to 2 weeks ahead of schedule to 23 weeks over. A full breakdown is in the following table. Tolerances of 3 months over or under the 3 year invitation cycle for breast screening are currently accepted, which allows for flexibility and changes in practice scheduling and invitees availability for appointments
Centre | Static Centre Waiting Times | Mobile Waiting Times |
East | 7 weeks behind schedule | Both units ahead of schedule. |
West | 2 weeks behind schedule | 4 units are ahead of schedule. 2 units are 3 weeks behind schedule 1 unit is 2 weeks behind schedule |
North East | 2 weeks behind schedule | 1 unit is on schedule. 1 unit is 4 weeks behind schedule |
South East | 3 weeks behind schedule | 1 Unit is 5 weeks behind schedule 1 Unit is 8 weeks behind schedule 1 Unit is 10 weeks behind schedule 1 Unit is 12 weeks behind schedule 1 Unit is 13 weeks behind schedule |
South West | 6 weeks ahead of schedule | 1 Unit is 7 weeks behind schedule 1 Unit is 23 weeks behind schedule |
North | On schedule | 1 unit is 3 weeks behind schedule |
Delay is monitored locally and reported monthly to National Services Division who commission and manage the programme. Where delays are significant, screening centres are required to submit a robust action plan detailing the initiatives and timescales to reduce delays. The reasons for delays are multi-factorial and may include increases in the eligible population to be invited, changes at GP practice level, staffing or equipment issues and adverse weather events.
There is no centrally held information on:
- how many women at each centre have been waiting more than three weeks for screening
- a breakdown of the reasons by each centre for the delays
- the date each centre is expected to operate without delay
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2018
-
Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 14 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government which NHS boards have a backlog for bowel screening examinations, broken down by length of backlog.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-20338 on 13 December 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 December 2018
-
Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce zone cards for public transport in rural areas.
Answer
The Scottish Government is supportive of multi-operator ticketing arrangements being available across all areas of Scotland. As such, we work with local transport authorities who are responsible for ensuring their public transport services meet passenger needs.
Through the Transport Bill, further powers will be given to local government to support development of multi-operator ticketing where demand is not being met.
Multi-operator ticketing schemes such as the Zonecard in Strathclyde and the One Ticket covering South East Scotland, already cover both urban and rural bus and rail travel (with Subway and ferry services also available using the Zonecard).
In other areas of Scotland, similar bus only products are available in both urban and rural areas. These include the successful smartzones; GrassHOPPER in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire; and ABC in Dundee, currently being developed to expand across the Tay cities region.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2018
-
Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) longest and (b) average waiting time has been in each year since 2010-11 for a bowel screening appointment, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
There is no backlog or waiting times in the Scottish Bowel Screening Programme.
Bowel screening involves taking a simple test at home. Eligible men and women, who are registered with a Community Health Index (CHI) number, are sent a letter and test kit in the post, which is completed at home and returned to the central Scottish Bowel Screening Centre in Dundee.
Once a patient is issued a test kit they will typically be invited to participate in screening again during the same month every 2 years until they are 74.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2018
-
Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government which NHS boards have a backlog for diagnosis following a positive result from a bowel screening, broken down by length of backlog.
Answer
The new simpler bowel screening test ‘FIT’ was introduced in November 2017 and is helping to increase participation in the programme. The increase in uptake of bowel screening and in the proportion of returned bowel screening kits testing positive has placed some additional pressures on colonoscopy departments.
Earlier this year the Scottish Government launched an Endoscopy Action Plan, backed with £14 million of funding. This, along with our £850m Waiting Times Action Plan, will reduce the amount of time people will have to wait for these key diagnostic tests.
Validated data for Diagnostic Waiting Times Standards are published by NHS ISD quarterly and can be accessed through the ISD website: https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Waiting-Times/Publications/2018-11-27/2018-11-27-WT-Diagnostic-Report.pdf .
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2018
-
Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what each NHS board’s recommended frequency is for bowel screening appointments, and how this compares with the actual frequency.
Answer
The Scottish Bowel Screening Programme invites all men and women in Scotland between the ages of 50 to 74 for bowel screening every two years. This is in line with recommendations from the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) an independent expert advisory group which advises the four UK countries about all aspects of screening policy.
Bowel screening involves taking a simple test at home. Eligible men and women, who are registered with a Community Health Index (CHI) number, are sent a letter and test kit in the post, which is completed at home and returned to the central Scottish Bowel Screening Centre in Dundee.
Once a patient is issued a test kit they will typically be invited to participate in screening again during the same month every 2 years until they are 74.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 November 2018
-
Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 11 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the link between fuel poverty and excess winter deaths, and what action it is taken to address the issue.
Answer
The National Records of Scotland caution that winter mortality can fluctuate significantly from one year to the next, and there can be a number of underlying factors behind this. Nonetheless, we recognise that living in an underheated home can have potential negative impacts on health, particularly for the elderly and people with pre-existing underlying conditions. That is why we are setting ambitious targets for the reduction of fuel poverty in the Fuel Poverty (Target, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Bill, and why addressing health inequalities is among the central aims of the accompanying draft strategy. We are also already taking actions to address the health impacts of fuel poverty. These include:
- continuing to work with NHS Health Scotland and other national partners within the advice and fuel poverty sectors to develop partnerships to improve collaborative working.
- funding Home Energy Scotland (HES) to provide free and impartial energy advice to all callers via a Freephone number and offer face to face support where this is the best option for the householder.
- continuing to deliver our HES Homecare pilot which is working closely with NHS colleagues to provide support to vulnerable households.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 November 2018
-
Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 11 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government how the level of excess winter death informed the drafting of the Fuel Poverty (Target, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Bill.
Answer
We recognise that living in an underheated home can have potential negative impacts on health, particularly for the elderly and people with pre-existing underlying conditions. That is a key reason why the Fuel Poverty (Target, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Bill sets such an ambitious target to bring down fuel poverty.
Alongside the Bill and the draft strategy we published a Health Impact Assessment . This provides details and evidence on the effects on health and wellbeing of living in an underheated home and of energy efficiency interventions, current partnership engagement with NHS Scotland and how we propose to build on this to help reduce health inequalities for those living in fuel poverty.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 10 December 2018
-
Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 13 December 2018
To ask the First Minister how many people will be taken out of fuel poverty in 2018-19.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 13 December 2018
