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: S6W-04236

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients waited longer than the period specified in the referral to treatment time guarantee to receive orthopaedic treatment in NHS Highland in each year since 2007, and what the reasons for delays in treatment were.

The following table sets out the total number of patients seen and the number that waited over 18 weeks for orthopaedic treatment in NHS Highland, from January 2012 to June 2021 – the latest data available. This includes all patients reported as seen on the 18-week Referral to Treatment (RTT) pathway for orthopaedics, including those patients who did not require to be admitted for treatment. For example, some patients may not have required treatment depending on the outcome of an outpatient consultation or diagnostic test.

Please note, due to the complexities of 18-week RTT local data collection and reporting, the length of wait cannot be accurately measured by the Board of treatment for all patients. The impact of which for orthopaedics in NHS Highland is reflected in the number of unknown waits reported below. The data should therefore be treated with caution.

Table: Total patients seen and number of patients that waited against the RTT Standard, January 2012 – June 2021, NHS Highland, Orthopaedics

Year	Total Patients Seen	Number of patients seen waiting <= 18 weeks	Number of patients seen waiting >18 weeks	Unknown Waits
2012	14940	7758	966	6216
2013	12912	8016	1237	3659
2014	11679	5551	2710	3418
2015	10101	3750	3343	3008
2016	10032	3469	3696	2867
2017	9007	3042	3757	2208
2018	9499	4283	2718	2498
2019	9046	3627	2649	2770
2020	5996	1762	2126	2108
2021*	3144	962	781	1401

Source: PHS 18 Weeks RTT Database

*This year covers the period between 1 st January 2012 - 30 th June 2021.

There are a number of reasons why the RTT standard has not been met in recent years. Prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, good progress was being made under the Waiting Times Improvement Plan, in reducing the numbers waiting for treatment. However, the pandemic has restricted Health Boards’ ability to make progress against the backlog of care that built up before the pandemic and has been compounded by the significant challenges Health Boards are continuing to tackle at the current time.

Question reference: S6W-03879

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what support it has offered to employees of CS Wind UK Ltd following the announcement that it has entered into administration.

The manufacturing facility in Machrihanish is a major asset to the local Kintyre area and should be fully active and providing valuable local employment. The majority of the workforce was made redundant throughout late 2019/early 2020 following a significant gap in the company’s order book (c90 employees). PACE support was provided to employees at that time. Only one employee remained onsite to manage the upkeep of the facility throughout 2020 until the company entered into administration on 8 September 2021.

Question reference: S6W-03876

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with CS Wind UK Ltd following the announcement that it has entered into administration.

Question reference: S6W-03875

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with Highlands and Islands Enterprise regarding the announcement that CS Wind UK Ltd has entered into administration.

Officials within Scottish Government have regular, sometimes daily discussions with equivalent renewable energy sector team officials within Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). Immediately following the announcement that the company had entered into administration, HIE officials contacted Scottish Government officials to inform them so that this information could be relayed to Scottish Ministers.

Question reference: S6W-03878

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted any assessment of the value of any public subsidies provided to CS Wind UK Ltd, and if so, whether it will publish this information.

Question reference: S6W-03106

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 15 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many nurses have taken early retirement in NHS (a) Highland, (b) Western Isles, (c) Orkney, (d) Shetland and (e) Grampian in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S6W-03109

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 15 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether NHS Scotland has offered GP practices financial incentives to hold patient appointments remotely and, if so, (a) how much was offered and (b) to how many practices.

NHS Scotland did not offer GP practices financial incentives to hold patient appointments remotely.

General practices are following Public Health Scotland’s advice on management of face to face appointments in primary care settings. While the number of virtual appointments will have risen during the pandemic, GP practices could adopt virtual or other forms of remote working before the pandemic.

Question reference: S6W-03105

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many consultants have taken early retirement in NHS (a) Highland, (b) Western Isles, (c) Orkney, (d) Shetland and (e) Grampian in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S6O-00363

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce waiting times for colposcopy appointments.

Question reference: S6W-02386

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what additional resources it has made available to NHS Highland to reduce the number of patients waiting for orthopaedic treatment.

The Scottish Government has released almost £5.3 million to NHS Highland to support the Health Board to support planned care for 2021/22. Of this more than £822,000 was allocated to support the delivery of orthopaedic procedures.

A further £701,000 was allocated to NHS Highland to enable the Health Board to deliver an additional day case procedures, a proportion of this activity will be utilised for orthopaedic procedures.