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 MSPs 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: S4W-18862

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 8 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what average hours have been worked by junior doctors in each NHS board area in each of the last six years.

Question reference: S4W-18860

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 8 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what actions (a) it is and (b) NHS boards are taking to ensure that junior doctors' hours comply with the European working time directive.

Our dedicated medical workforce adviser works with NHS boards to ensure that rotas comply with the required legal and contractual guidelines. No junior doctor rotas in NHS Scotland can be implemented without the approval of this adviser.

NHS boards undertake twice yearly monitoring of Junior Doctors rotas to ensure they continue to comply with the working time directive. In this exercise, junior doctors self-monitor by recording the hours they work over a minimum period of two weeks. This information is then analysed by NHS boards and the results reported to the Scottish Government’s medical workforce adviser, as well as to junior doctors.

We also fund software (Doctors rostering system) which ensures NHS boards have the relevant tools to design legal compliant rotas.

We continue to work with NHS boards and professional bodies to review best practice and how this can be used to improve the working lives of junior doctors, and we meet on a regular basis with the British Medical Association to provide reports on compliance with contracts and the working time regulations.

We have been investing in medical staff and since September 2006 there has been an increase in the number of doctors working in hospitals in NHS Scotland. Junior doctor numbers have risen from 5,336.1 to 5,796.7, an 8.6% increase, Consultant numbers have risen from 3,636.5 to 4,665.8, a 28.3% increase and specialty doctor numbers have risen from 810.3 to 1,042.9, a 28.7% increase.

Question reference: S4O-02750

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many classroom assistants have been employed in schools in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S4O-02742

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that Scotland's social care system is world leading.

Question reference: S4F-01757

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 December 2013

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s position is on whether the number of hours worked by junior doctors is acceptable.

Question reference: S4O-02651

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 28 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the quality of care for older people.

The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Bill provides the framework for the integration of health and social care. The Bill, will put new national health and wellbeing outcomes on a statutory footing in order to improve outcomes for patients, service users, carers and their families and to enable health boards and local authorities to work together effectively to deliver quality, sustainable care services.

The Scottish Government is developing new inspections to ensure that people get the level of support that they have been assessed as needing, and that the quality is what they should expect and deserve. Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Care Inspectorate have been tasked to develop the new inspection methodology for adult care and they are now consulting on this. New inspections will include the commissioning processes by which councils determine the volume and length of visits needed to deliver safe, compassionate care services for Scotland’s older people.

Our drive for improvement centres on enabling staff to deliver safe, effective and world class care for the people of Scotland. We have placed particular emphasis on ensuring that older people and individuals and their families affected by dementia receive the highest quality care when they are in hospital and that staff care for them in a dignified, respectful, compassionate way. That is why the Scottish Government asked Healthcare Improvement Scotland to carry out a programme of inspections into care of older people in acute hospitals, in order to drive up standards of care across Scotland. That is also why, to support our continued drive for excellence, we now have 417 staff trained as dementia champions (which includes 110 participants (the 4^th cohort) who completed the training in September 2013) and have supported Alzheimer Scotland to appoint a specialist dementia nurse specialist to NHS boards across Scotland. To build on this, the national action plan for improving care for people with dementia is being taken forward to ensure the implementation of the Standards of Care for Dementia in hospitals.

Question reference: S4W-18539

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 28 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has estimated the number of women treated in the private sector with polypropylene mesh implants for pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence and those who have had a mesh implant partially or completely removed.

Question reference: S4W-18538

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 28 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the private health sector in relation to using polypropylene mesh implants as part of treatment for pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence.

Question reference: S4F-01719

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 November 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2013

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government considers that there is sufficient capacity in the NHS to deal with demand this winter.

Question reference: S4W-18276

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 25 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what treatments are available to remove transvaginal mesh implants.