Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-04441

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many adverse events have taken place in the NHS since 1999, broken down by (a) NHS board, (b) category and (c) type of event.

The information requested is not held centrally as individual NHS Boards are responsible and accountable for managing their own clinical governance processes.

Adverse event reviews are carried out to determine whether there are learning points to improve the service. Boards then need to implement any improvements identified to support a greater level of safety for all the people involved in its care system. Significant adverse event review reports should be shared with everyone involved and a one-page learning summary completed and published in order to disseminate key learning points.

Question reference: S5W-04351

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 10 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings of the survey in the Action on Hearing Loss Scotland report, Time to raise the standards, which recorded that (a) 85% of respondents did not have an individual management plan and (b) 51% of respondents said that when they had their hearing assessed by an audiologist they were not asked how their hearing loss was affecting everyday life.

The monitoring and governance of the national audiology quality standards sits with NHS Boards. The Scottish Government is committed to improving the services, support and care available to people with hearing loss through its national strategy ‘See Hear’. Delivering person centred care and empowering people to be at the centre of their care is a strategic priority for the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-04353

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 10 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03411 by Maureen Watt on 26 October 2016, how it ensures that mental health tribunals offer sufficient guarantees to ensure that they are seen to be impartial.

I refer to my previous answer to question S5W-03039 on 30 September 2016 and add that as an independent organisation, Mental Health Tribunal Service for Scotland (MHTS) provides assurance to Scottish Ministers on the discharge of its functions.

MHTS was established by the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 to make decisions on the care and treatment of people who are subject to the Act. The rules under which the Tribunal operates are set out in the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland (Practice and Procedure) Rules 2005. Scottish Ministers receive an annual report on the performance of the Tribunals functions which is also laid before the Scottish Parliament.

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

Question reference: S5W-04414

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 10 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the ALISS (A Local Information System for Scotland) mental health system.

The Scottish Government funds the ALISS Programme through the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE). The service includes sources of support in the community across the full range of health and care services not just for mental health.

The Minister for Public Health and the Chief Medical Officer launched two reports covering progress and activity to date at an event on 17 March 2016. These are available online with ALISS Report 1 2009-2013 available at http://www.alliance-scotland.org.uk/download/library/lib_56ea957220720/ and ALISS Report 2
2013-2016 available at http://www.alliance-scotland.org.uk/download/library/lib_56ea95a6f09fa/

Question reference: S5W-04352

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 9 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03411 by Maureen Watt on 26 October 2016, what its position is on whether people with mental health problems should have the same right to refuse treatment as people with physical health conditions.

Most people who use mental health services receive treatment without being subject to an order or certificate under the Mental Health (Scotland) (Care and Treatment) Act 2003. For some individuals however, compulsory treatment is used to provide the person with medical treatment to alleviate suffering and for the protection of both the person and others. Compulsory treatment is only allowed under mental health legislation in Scotland in very strict circumstances.

Firstly, certain criteria must be met before an order or certificate can be granted. For a 28 day short-term detention certificate (STDC), this includes that an approved medical practitioner considers it likely that the patient has a mental disorder (as defined by the 2003 Act) and that the patient’s decision making ability is significantly impaired by their disorder and without treatment the patient could be of significant risk to their own health, safety and welfare, or to the safety of others. The patient can appeal the granting of an STDC to the independent Mental Health Tribunal. A longer term order can only be granted by the Tribunal, and the application must have the support of two doctors who agree that the criteria for the order are met.

Secondly, treatment under the 2003 Act is governed by a range of safeguards. For certain treatments, including medication given for more than two months, a Designated Medical Practitioner, an experienced psychiatrist appointed by the Mental Welfare Commission, must agree to the treatment.

In addition to this, the 2003 Act is based in rights and principles and contains tools to support patients in expressing their will and preferences. The principles include that any function should be carried out for the maximum benefit of the patient, with the minimum necessary restriction on the freedom of the patient and having regard to the views of the patient and of any carer. Under the 2003 Act, any service user has the right to support from an independent advocate, the right to appoint a named person to represent their interests and the right to make an advance statement setting out how what treatment they would and would not like to receive when unwell

Question reference: S5W-04433

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 9 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Action on Hearing Loss Scotland's recommendation that the Audiology Services Advisory Group should be reconvened to provide strategic oversight of the quality standards for adult audiology services.

Question reference: S5W-03691

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 8 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the cancer survival outcomes are for (a) children and (b) young adults, broken down by type of cancer.

Question reference: S5W-04034

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 4 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what evaluation it has made of each of its public health campaigns since 2007.

Evaluation is an important part of our campaigns and is undertaken in a variety of ways according to the scale and nature of the campaign, the target audience and has been proportionate to the budget for each campaign. Where relevant, new campaigns are tested before launch to evaluate their appeal to the target audience. At the end of campaigns, we measure the level of audience reach, awareness, understanding of campaign messages and / or behaviour change. The results of such evaluation are used to inform future campaigns.

For example, the recent ‘Eat Better, Feel Better’ campaign evaluation consisted of a survey with the target audience, analysis of digital analytics and evaluation of partnership activity. The Scottish Government Communications Plan 2016-17 contains a case study about this campaign: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00508199.pdf.

Question reference: S5W-04029

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have had psoriatic arthritis in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

The number of people diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis in each NHS Board is not held centrally. The following table shows patients who have been admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of Psoriatic Arthritis in each calendar year since 1999. However this is likely to underestimate the total number since many cases will be treated in a primary care setting only.

NHS Board of Residence

Calendar Year

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	7	14	11	8	10	13	8	*
NHS Borders	*	5	5	*	9	7	6	9
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	10	11	10	16	13	15	19	16
NHS Fife	22	24	13	10	6	*	8	5
NHS Forth Valley	25	21	15	22	26	17	13	10
NHS Grampian	27	36	15	11	6	11	10	12
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	76	69	61	56	59	81	64	50
NHS Highland	29	28	26	29	37	40	45	48
NHS Lanarkshire	47	46	32	41	39	22	12	19
NHS Lothian	48	49	32	24	26	50	38	43
NHS Orkney	*	*	*	*	*	*	-	*
NHS Shetland	*	5	-	*	-	*	6	*
NHS Tayside	9	10	*	8	15	6	12	16
NHS Western Isles	*	*	5	7	*	*	*	*
Other	*	*	*	-	*	*	*	*
NHS Scotland	313	323	230	239	253	272	247	241

NHS Board of Residence

CalendarYear

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	9	*	5	18	21	18	17	20	21
NHS Borders	8	8	7	7	7	5	9	*	9
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	14	10	21	15	18	16	11	12	12
NHS Fife	7	9	*	9	17	7	25	31	12
NHS Forth Valley	7	7	7	10	11	10	6	10	14
NHS Grampian	18	12	23	19	38	43	40	32	49
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	55	71	78	202	163	145	149	129	156
NHS Highland	42	52	45	47	45	51	54	42	63
NHS Lanarkshire	21	19	22	80	72	52	52	73	88
NHS Lothian	31	26	24	35	50	42	25	41	53
NHS Orkney	*	*	*	*	9	5	*	*	6
NHS Shetland	*	*	*	5	7	5	7	5	7
NHS Tayside	18	14	20	27	27	22	30	32	32
NHS Western Isles	*	7	*	7	5	5	*	6	*
Other	-	*	*	*	-	*	*	-	*
NHS Scotland	236	248	267	485	490	428	431	439	529

Source: SMR01,ISD Scotland

*Following ISD Statistical Disclosure Control Protocol, any cells with count values of 4 or less have been suppressed in order to protect the confidentiality of potentially personally identifiable information.

1. A full list of the ICD10 diagnosis codes used to identify patients can be found in the attached notes.

Notes:

1. Up to six diagnoses (one principal diagnosis and five secondary diagnoses) may be recorded per hospital episode, using the International Classification of Disease Codes, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). All six diagnostic positions were used to identify the relevant cases.

2. The primary diagnosis is defined as the main condition treated or investigated during the relevant episode of healthcare. The five secondary diagnoses describe other conditions which the patient may have.

3. The following paired ICD10 codes were used to identify the relevant cases 'L40.5 D' + any of the following:

'M07.0 A'

'M07.1 A'

'M07.2 A'

'M07.3 A'

'M09.0 A' (Juvenile)

Question reference: S5W-04032

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the waiting time has been for people with suspected psoriatic arthritis to see a consultant following referral by their GP in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

The specific information is not available centrally as outpatient waiting times information is collected at specialty level only. I understand that patients with suspected psoriatic arthritis are mostly likely to be referred to a dermatologist. The following tables provides information on the waiting time for a dermatology outpatient consultation for each year from June 1999 to June 2016.

It should be noted that due to data collection changes data has been provided from two different data collection systems and data from June 2009 is not directly comparable with earlier years median waits.

NHSScotland: Median Waiting Time For A First Outpatient Dermatology Consultation: June 1999 to June 2003

Board	June 1999	June 2000	June 2001	June 2002	June 2003
	Days	Days	Days	Days	Days
Ayrshire & Arran	42	62	93	104	91
Borders	66	50	69	76	91
Dumfries & Galloway	39	21	33	63	41
Fife	65	68	62	71	84
Forth Valley	105	106	117	109	93
Grampian	101	111	125	126	119.5
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	54	60	56	62	56
Highland	59	60	45	32	50
Lanarkshire	41	52.5	62	98	94
Lothian	51	66	70	66	68
Orkney	37	54	41	42.5	169
Shetland	43	57	42.5	63	59
Tayside	78	35	27	43	41
Western Isles	111	83	28	26	27
NHS Scotland	54	61	59	68	65

Source ISD: SMR(00)

NHSScotland: Median Waiting Time For A First Outpatient Dermatology Consultation: June 2004 to June 2008

Board	June 2004	June 2005	June 2006	June 2007	June 2008
	Days	Days	Days	Days	Days
Ayrshire & Arran	82	55	39	36	43
Borders	83	83	61	38	29
Dumfries & Galloway	25	20	19	14	18
Fife	81	75	59	38	52
Forth Valley	180	91	68	51	42
Grampian	107	85	43	73	92
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	47	50	47	52	53
Highland	27	37	73	46	45
Lanarkshire	70	83	56	58	94
Lothian	57	59	51	46	61
Orkney	80	96	74	104.5	100
Shetland	153	70	80	100	63
Tayside	48	52	57	57	52
Western Isles	28	32	29	26.5	29
NHS Scotland	53	55	49	49	53

Source ISD: SMR(00)

NHSScotland: Median Waiting Time For A First Outpatient Dermatology Consultation: June 2009 to June 2012

Board	June 2009	June 2010	June 2011	June 2012
	Days	Days	Days	Days
Ayrshire & Arran	48	26	48	62
Borders	55	44	53	77
Dumfries & Galloway	24	26	28	34
Fife	47	45	39	40
Forth Valley	47	50	62	46
Grampian	50	63	71	73
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	43	34	38	35
Highland	46	40	27	36
Lanarkshire	61	66	65	76
Lothian	48	34	32	33
Orkney	72.5	58	50.5	46
Shetland	50	44	59	62
Tayside	42	37	45	50
Western Isles	39	35	41	42
NHS Scotland	47	41	43	41

Source; ISD New Ways Data Warehouse

NHSScotland: Median Waiting Time For A First Outpatient Dermatology Consultation: June 2013 to June 2016

Board	June 2013	June 2014	June 2015	June 2016
	Days	Days	Days	Days
Ayrshire & Arran	74	83	87	48
Borders	49	36	65	75
Dumfries & Galloway	60	59.5	49	59
Fife	51	56	67	48
Forth Valley	49	50	33	36
Grampian	70	75	83	79
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	41	49	59	62
Highland	42	42	48	52
Lanarkshire	73	64	43	53
Lothian	36	40	45	41
Orkney	49	71.5	100	90
Shetland	49	85	63	98
Tayside	43	40	42	45
Western Isles	26	32	37	40
NHS Scotland	46	50	53	53

Source; ISD New Ways Data Warehouse

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