- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 October 2018
-
Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 8 November 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the use of e-cigarettes within hospital grounds.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring consistency in local smoking policies on vaping on hospital grounds. We are currently consulting with NHS Boards in order to reach a consensus on whether vaping should be allowed on hospital grounds through a consistent national approach.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 15 October 2018
-
Current Status:
Answered by Clare Haughey on 31 October 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what guidance and processes are in place to assist NHS staff to recognise, treat and care for adults and young people with psychosis and coexisting substance misuse, and whether there are any plans to update these.
Answer
There is a strong existing evidence base around coexisting psychosis and substance misuse. NICE clinical guidance CG120 contains detailed information about assessment and management: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg120
SIGN 131 guidelines cover the management of schizophrenia, and include a dedicated section on dual diagnosis: https://www.sign.ac.uk/assets/sign131.pdf
We are not aware of any current plans to update this guidance.
Some local services across NHS Scotland have their own specific policy and guidance to ensure that local service delivery is matched to need.
Additionally, the Scottish Government will publish a new alcohol and drug strategy this autumn. It will challenge alcohol and drug treatment services to adapt the ways in which they work, in order to better meet the wide range of complex health and social care needs.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 October 2018
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 31 October 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent intervention of the UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the termination of 15 of its contracts for NHS trusts in England, what its position is on Healthcare Environmental Services (HES) continuing to provide services to NHS boards.
Answer
Clinical waste collection continues as normal for NHS Scotland and we are not aware of any issues regarding the disposal of this waste in Scotland.
The Scottish Government is monitoring the situation and receiving regular updates from Health Boards.
In the event of disruption to clinical waste management services at NHS sites across Scotland, all NHS Scotland Boards have contingency plans ready to put into place. The plans ensure that there is sufficient storage capacity for clinical waste to be stored safely on site for a period of 72 hours.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 October 2018
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 30 October 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what specialist support is available to people with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
Answer
A range of specialist support is available depending on the type, severity and symptoms of the syndrome.
Most people with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) in Scotland are managed by consultant rheumatologist or physiotherapy services in their local hospital. Depending on the type of EDS and the severity of their symptoms, some people are managed by or receive additional input from a range of clinical speciality areas such as dermatology, paediatrics, vascular surgery, gastroenterology and neurology.
People with rarer types of EDS will normally be referred to regional genetics for confirmation of diagnosis. There are also specialist EDS diagnostic services based in Sheffield and London available on referral for people in Scotland with complex symptoms.
People with EDS may also require specialist pain management advice, for which there is a national service for Scotland provided by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Very complex cases can be referred for a residential programme to the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases in Bath.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 October 2018
-
Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 30 October 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what guidance NHS boards follow regarding the use of vitamin B12 injections to treat pernicious anaemia.
Answer
Haematologists within each NHS board are expected to take account of any relevant guidance, such as the guidelines published by the British Committee for Haematology Standards 2014 and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Clinical Knowledge Summary on Anaemia, B12 and foliate deficiency.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 October 2018
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 30 October 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of it being a Scotland-based company that provides services to NHS boards, what its response is to reports that Healthcare Environmental Services (HES) has been responsible for 350 tonnes of hospital waste from NHS trusts in England, including body parts, being stockpiled at its facilities, and what discussions it has had with the UK Government, Public Health England and NHS officials in England regarding this matter.
Answer
Authorities in England alerted Scottish Government to issues regarding the company’s management of clinical waste at its sites in England in August.
Since then Scottish Government have been working with Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) to monitor the situation and have sought assurances with NHS Boards that they have contingency plans in place.
NHS Scotland, working with SEPA , have developed contingency plans which firmly maintain environmental protections. SEPA is clear that compliance is non-negotiable and is robustly monitoring sites in Scotland.
Scottish Government continues to monitor the situation in England and any potential impact on services in Scotland.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 October 2018
-
Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 29 October 2018
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to reflect the EU’s key principles of procurement policy, which are reflected in the Scottish Public Finance Manual, and the principle of equal treatment and non-discrimination in its awarding of grants or funding to organisations after the UK leaves the EU.
Answer
The Scottish Government will continue to advance the case for Scotland to remain in the European Union, or failing that within the single market and customs union.
That notwithstanding, the principles of equal treatment and non-discrimination apply to procurement exercises not only as a matter of European law, but also apply to the award of regulated public contracts as a matter of domestic law, by virtue of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.
The Scottish Government is also committed to equal treatment and non-discrimination in the awarding of its grants and is required to comply with domestic equality law in the Equality Act 2010 and the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 October 2018
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 29 October 2018
To ask the Scottish Government how NHS whistleblowers can take up the recent offer by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport to contact her directly.
Answer
NHS whistleblowers who have concerns should raise them locally in the first instance. Staff can also contact the Whistleblowing Alert and Advice Line for independent, confidential advice from legally trained staff on whistleblowing matters. This also provides a route, where appropriate, for staff to have their whistleblowing concerns passed to the appropriate regulatory or scrutiny body.
I announced on 8 October that I will personally appoint Health Board`s non-executive Whistleblowing Champions, and that this will now be a dedicated role. If any of the Whistleblowing Champions feel they, or staff within their area are not being heard by their Board, they will be able to contact me directly. More detail on the process for appointments will be provided in due course.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 08 October 2018
-
Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 26 October 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the call by the Royal College of General Practitioners that more must be done to tackle health inequalities, and what action it is taking in this regard.
Answer
Significantly reducing health inequalities is a top priority.
We are addressing root causes through a wide range of action to tackle deep-seated poverty and inequalities in wider society. This includes investment of over £125m in 2018-19 on welfare mitigation and measures to protect those on low incomes in the face of the UK Government’s cuts and continued austerity.
We are making progress against our public health priorities and taking action to ensure this continues. For example, the Tobacco Action Plan published in June focusses on health inequalities and targeting smoking rates in communities where people find it most difficult to quit. The introduction of minimum pricing at 50 pence per unit on 1 May 2018 is a key milestone on our journey to tackle alcohol misuse in Scotland. Our diet and healthy weight delivery plan sets out our vision for everyone in Scotland to eat well and have a healthy weight, and our ambition to halve childhood obesity by 2030 and significantly reduce diet-related health inequalities. We are currently consulting on world-leading measures to restrict promotions of junk food.
And with CosLA, in 2019, we will establish a new public health body, Public Health Scotland, building on the work of NHS Health Scotland and the Scottish Public Health Observatory to focus the whole system on factors which reduce inequalities and have the greatest impact on healthy life expectancy.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2018
-
Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that planning policies and decisions do not discriminate against minority groups.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2018
