Questions and answers

Question reference: S4W-29609

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-26834 by Shona Robison on 12 August 2015, what it considers to be a "statistically high" rate of readmission for (a) surgical and (b) medical specialties.

The Scottish Government considers hospital standardised readmission rates every three months, on both a national and a hospital basis. The measures are rates of surgical readmissions within seven days, rates of surgical readmissions with 28 days, rates of medical readmissions within seven days and rates of medical readmissions within 28 days. These measures have been standardised by age, sex and deprivation (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2009).

Where a specific hospital has a significantly higher than expected standardised rate of readmission (compared to other hospitals) the corresponding NHS board is asked to investigate so as to gain assurance about the quality of care being delivered and to learn any lessons for improvement. For the same reasons the Scottish Government also invites all NHS boards to continuously review their latest information on readmissions.

The definitions for statistically high are based on standardised rates that are three standard deviations from the average; standardised rates that are two standard deviations from the average on consecutive occasions; and how many of the four standardised readmission rate measures meet these criteria on each occasion. It should also be noted that the methodology has changed over time as the data under consideration moved from annual to quarterly time periods.

Question reference: S4W-29610

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what proportion of (i) clinical and (ii) surgical readmissions within seven days there have/has been in each NHS board in each year since 2010.

Information that is provided in the following tables shows the number of emergency readmissions within seven days of the original admission, for each calendar year from 2010 to September 2015, broken down by NHS board of residence and surgical and medical specialty groupings.

a)

i) The number of continuous inpatient stays for medical specialties by calendar year and NHS board of residence.

Health Board of Residence	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015¹
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	51,702	53,236	52,901	52,784	55,202	41,268
NHS Borders	13,757	13,929	14,339	15,049	15,628	12,470
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	13,551	14,162	14,721	14,802	15,541	11,128
NHS Fife	38,317	38,715	39,978	41,213	40,569	30,816
NHS Forth Valley	22,096	23,270	25,647	25,092	26,175	19,221
NHS Grampian	53,424	57,042	58,548	57,220	56,995	45,819
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	154,272	160,330	163,927	165,607	175,722	132,751
NHS Highland	36,507	36,769	36,198	36,908	36,663	25,968
NHS Lanarkshire	82,933	81,350	88,081	88,129	90,572	68,355
NHS Lothian	81,298	84,328	87,366	88,264	90,722	69,894
NHS Orkney Islands	3,176	3,288	3,091	3,190	2,639	1,664
NHS Shetland Islands	2,064	2,211	2,354	2,129	2,115	1,653
NHS Tayside	36,774	36,459	37,466	36,730	37,472	27,877
NHS Western Isles	3,123	2,946	3,011	2,753	2,616	1,854

Source: SMR01, Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland

¹Only covers January to September 2015.

The number of emergency readmission continuous inpatient stays within seven days for medical specialties by calendar year and NHS board of residence.

Health Board of Residence	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015¹
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	2,520	2,840	3,035	3,050	3,086	2,366
NHS Borders	645	809	820	903	910	738
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	636	689	706	736	764	600
NHS Fife	1,700	1,685	1,840	1,997	2,074	1,605
NHS Forth Valley	1,169	1,169	1,434	1,537	1,557	1,030
NHS Grampian	2,522	2,609	2,796	2,610	2,651	2,154
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	6,897	7,306	7,377	7,936	9,240	6,339
NHS Highland	1,781	1,832	1,662	1,669	1,835	1,159
NHS Lanarkshire	3,705	3,706	4,281	4,404	4,319	3,512
NHS Lothian	4,237	4,836	4,973	4,908	5,286	4,139
NHS Orkney Islands	97	103	86	82	143	67
NHS Shetland Islands	101	110	100	100	98	80
NHS Tayside	2,289	2,058	2,128	2,103	2,135	1,614
NHS Western Isles	150	150	229	224	127	120

Source: SMR01, ISD Scotland

¹Only covers January to September 2015.

ii) The number of continuous inpatient stays for surgical specialties by calendar year and NHS board of residence.

Health Board of Residence	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015¹
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	48,973	48,319	45,929	46,165	46,606	31,192
NHS Borders	10,417	10,917	11,609	11,607	11,771	8,262
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	20,100	19,627	19,089	19,559	21,203	15,101
NHS Fife	33,804	34,180	34,660	33,904	33,240	24,410
NHS Forth Valley	24,071	23,197	23,417	23,200	24,660	18,342
NHS Grampian	50,439	49,988	52,778	51,978	52,065	39,688
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	134,919	135,088	135,978	139,182	142,709	103,909
NHS Highland	36,720	34,332	34,469	34,321	32,808	20,355
NHS Lanarkshire	75,404	73,183	78,612	78,497	79,411	59,347
NHS Lothian	66,033	65,899	70,737	69,978	69,796	50,383
NHS Orkney Islands	2,782	2,776	2,805	2,704	2,777	2,189
NHS Shetland Islands	3,125	3,342	3,391	3,515	3,647	2,472
NHS Tayside	34,491	34,852	35,403	35,959	34,582	24,829
NHS Western Isles	4,426	4,175	3,899	4,495	4,327	3,395

Source: SMR01, ISD Scotland

¹Only covers January to September 2015.

The number of emergency readmission continuous inpatient stays within seven days for surgical specialties by calendar year and NHS board of residence.

Health Board of Residence	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015¹
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	1,245	1,400	1,317	1,425	1,476	971
NHS Borders	354	427	427	488	442	311
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	366	427	383	399	523	326
NHS Fife	891	839	1,006	1,116	1,212	1,022
NHS Forth Valley	658	653	698	689	973	643
NHS Grampian	1,186	1,098	1,250	1,380	1,337	1,032
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	3,810	4,042	3,935	3,931	3,921	2,781
NHS Highland	932	988	880	859	817	480
NHS Lanarkshire	2,152	2,192	2,387	2,463	2,411	1,753
NHS Lothian	1,780	1,928	2,103	2,138	2,087	1,551
NHS Orkney Islands	50	66	49	61	56	61
NHS Shetland Islands	59	94	106	81	92	57
NHS Tayside	996	1,043	1,036	1,105	1,019	821
NHS Western Isles	87	102	98	106	88	58

Source: SMR01, ISD Scotland

¹Only covers January to September 2015.

b)

i) The percentage of medical admissions which were followed by a readmission with seven days by calendar year and NHS board of residence.

Health Board of Residence	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015 ¹
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	4.9%	5.3%	5.7%	5.8%	5.6%	5.7%
NHS Borders	4.7%	5.8%	5.7%	6.0%	5.8%	5.9%
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	4.7%	4.9%	4.8%	5.0%	4.9%	5.4%
NHS Fife	4.4%	4.4%	4.6%	4.8%	5.1%	5.2%
NHS Forth Valley	5.3%	5.0%	5.6%	6.1%	5.9%	5.4%
NHS Grampian	4.7%	4.6%	4.8%	4.6%	4.7%	4.7%
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	4.5%	4.6%	4.5%	4.8%	5.3%	4.8%
NHS Highland	4.9%	5.0%	4.6%	4.5%	5.0%	4.5%
NHS Lanarkshire	4.5%	4.6%	4.9%	5.0%	4.8%	5.1%
NHS Lothian	5.2%	5.7%	5.7%	5.6%	5.8%	5.9%
NHS Orkney Islands	3.1%	3.1%	2.8%	2.6%	5.4%	4.0%
NHS Shetland Islands	4.9%	5.0%	4.2%	4.7%	4.6%	4.8%
NHS Tayside	6.2%	5.6%	5.7%	5.7%	5.7%	5.8%
NHS Western Isles	4.8%	5.1%	7.6%	8.1%	4.9%	6.5%

Source: SMR01, ISD Scotland

¹Only covers January to September 2015.

ii) The percentage of surgical admissions which were followed by a readmission with seven days by calendar year and NHS board of residence.

Health Board of Residence	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015 ¹
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	2.5%	2.9%	2.9%	3.1%	3.2%	3.1%
NHS Borders	3.4%	3.9%	3.7%	4.2%	3.8%	3.8%
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	1.8%	2.2%	2.0%	2.0%	2.5%	2.2%
NHS Fife	2.6%	2.5%	2.9%	3.3%	3.6%	4.2%
NHS Forth Valley	2.7%	2.8%	3.0%	3.0%	3.9%	3.5%
NHS Grampian	2.4%	2.2%	2.4%	2.7%	2.6%	2.6%
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	2.8%	3.0%	2.9%	2.8%	2.7%	2.7%
NHS Highland	2.5%	2.9%	2.6%	2.5%	2.5%	2.4%
NHS Lanarkshire	2.9%	3.0%	3.0%	3.1%	3.0%	3.0%
NHS Lothian	2.7%	2.9%	3.0%	3.1%	3.0%	3.1%
NHS Orkney Islands	1.8%	2.4%	1.7%	2.3%	2.0%	2.8%
NHS Shetland Islands	1.9%	2.8%	3.1%	2.3%	2.5%	2.3%
NHS Tayside	2.9%	3.0%	2.9%	3.1%	2.9%	3.3%
NHS Western Isles	2.0%	2.4%	2.5%	2.4%	2.0%	1.7%

Source: SMR01, ISD Scotland

¹Only covers January to September 2015.

Note: All discharges (defined as a continuous stay in hospital) which meet the selection criteria were included in the analysis. Each discharge was compared with the next admission to hospital for the same patient. If this subsequent admission occurred within seven days of the date of discharge for the previous hospital stay and was coded as an emergency admission, it was selected as a relevant readmission. Cases were excluded from the analysis if the patient died within seven days of discharge. The figures include readmissions within seven days whether or not the readmission was related to the previous hospital stay.

Question reference: S4W-29737

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 05 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much police time is spent each year on attending incidents involving people with potential mental health problems.

Question reference: S4W-29738

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 05 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4O-05208 by Michael Matheson on 6 January 2015 (Official Report, c. 6), how many such incidents there are each year, and what proportion of all police incidents this represents.

Question reference: S4W-29835

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 08 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 24 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29493 by Margaret Burgess on 4 February 2016, what percentage of (a) social landlords and (b) private home owners has used Home Energy Scotland advice centres in each year since 2007-08.

The Scottish Government funds the Energy Saving Trust annually to provide a range of advice and support on domestic energy efficiency. This includes the Home Energy Scotland (HES) advice service.

The following table details the percentage of private home owners and social landlords who have taken up the service since 2008-09.

The advice network was established in April 2008 so figures for 2007-08 are not available.

Financial year	Owner occupier	Housing association	Local authority	All social housing
2008-09	4.8%	0.8%	1.8%	1.4%
2009-10	9.7%	2.6%	5.3%	4.1%
2010-11	12.9%	4.6%	6.8%	5.8%
2011-12	6.4%	0.8%	1.5%	1.2%
2012-13	6.3%	0.6%	1.5%	1.1%
2013-14	5.1%	0.6%	1.0%	0.8%
2014-15	5.1%	1.0%	1.8%	1.4%
2015-16 (to 9 February 2016)	4.3%	0.6%	1.0%	0.8%

Notes:

Based on the number of households with resolved interactions recorded by HES (i.e. social housing figures reflect tenants in social rented properties that have contacted HES).

Covers all the services and schemes offered through contact to HES.

“All social housing” figure is assuming that there are only housing associations and local authorities.

Question reference: S4W-29658

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 23 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether secondary appointments have been delayed in NHS Lanarkshire's pain services due to the intake of new chronic pain patients since April 2015.

Question reference: S4W-29656

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 23 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether there has been an increase in the number of new chronic pain patient referrals to NHS Lanarkshire's pain clinics from April 2015 and, if so, what increase.

Question reference: S4W-29657

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 23 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether staffing levels in NHS Lanarkshire's conventional chronic pain services have been increased since April 2015.

Question reference: S4W-29580

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 29 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 9 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how the £50 million for mental health services will be spent, broken down by (a) NHS board, (b) type of treatment and (c) group of professionals who will receive the money.

Last year we announced additional investment of £100 million to improve mental health services over five years. The Draft Budget 2016-17 provides a further £50 million, resulting in a total package of £150 million to 2019-20.

As we announced in January 2016, £54.1 million of this package will be allocated to NHS boards over four years to improve access to psychological therapies for people of all ages, including children and adolescents.

£4.8 million will be invested in improving support for boards to identify enables and barriers to improving access and meeting Local Delivery Plan (LDP) standards through the creation of a ‘Mental Health Access Improvement Support Team’;

£24.6 million will be invested to support workforce development to improve both the training and capacity of those providing psychological therapies to people of all ages; and £24.7 million will be invested to support boards to improve their capacity to meet the LDP standards and engage with the improvement programme.

We are working with NHS boards, other public sector partners and the third sector on priorities for the remaining spend, in line with our forthcoming mental health strategy.

Question reference: S4T-01315

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 08 February 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reports of a 50% increase in households requesting financial assistance to pay fuel and heating bills.

Chamber and committees