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: S5W-03245

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve communication between primary and secondary health care.

The Scottish Government recognises that improving communication between primary and secondary health care is an integral part of improving patient care. As part of the Primary Care Transformation Programme a working group has been established that will provide recommendations on a number of topics for improvement, one of which is in relation to the complex interface between primary and secondary care.

In addition as part of the Urgent Care Transformation Programme we are testing a number of different approaches to the multi–disciplinary delivery model recommended in the Sir Lewis Ritchie report “ Pulling Together”. This will include how that multi-disciplinary team will engage and work more closely with secondary care partners.

Question reference: S5W-03246

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the average cost is of (a) a hospital appointment, (b) an A&E attendance, (c) an overnight hospital stay and (d) a GP appointment.

a) The average cost of a hospital appointment in 2014-15 was:

Inpatient(elective and non-elective, whole stay) - £3204

Day case - £907

Consultant outpatient appointment - £160

b) The average cost of an attendance at an A&E outpatient consultant-led clinic in 2014-15 was £112.

c) The average cost of an overnight inpatient stay at an NHS Scotland hospital, in 2014-15 was £550 (average cost of one night). This is based on the hospital costs of the 14 territorial boards and the two special boards, namely the State Hospital and Golden Jubilee National Hospital.

d) The average cost of a GP appointment is not held centrally.

Sources

a) 2014-15 Costs Book, report R025: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Finance/Publications/2015-11-24/Costs_D025_2015.xlsx

b) 2014-15 Costs Book, report RO4X:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Finance/Publications/2015-11-24/Costs_R04X_2015.xlsm

c) 2014-15 Costs Book, report R025: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Finance/Publications/2015-11-24/Costs_D025_2015.xlsx

Question reference: S5W-03241

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the primary care fund budget for (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18 and (c) 2018-19 and what plans it has to make additional funding available.

The Scottish Government has committed to increasing spending on primary care services to 11% of the frontline NHS spending by the end of this parliament - delivering an extra half a billion pounds in building a Community Health Service with general practice at its heart.

The 2016-17 budget for Primary Care Fund is £45 million. The Primary Care Fund for 2017-18 and subsequent years will be agreed as part of the Spending Review and Budget Bill processes for those years, which will be subject to approval by the Scottish Parliament.

Question reference: S5O-00244

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 October 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the energy efficiency of Scotland’s housing stock.

Question reference: S5W-03244

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve GP retention.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to supporting primary care, including GPs, and ensuring that all communities in Scotland, including remote and rural, receive safe, reliable and sustainable health care services.

Over three years, the Scottish Government is investing £85 million, as part of the Primary Care Fund. As part of this, £2.5million will be invested in work to explore with key stakeholders the issues surrounding GP recruitment and retention which can be particularly challenging in remote and rural areas. This will support a range of initiatives over the next two years including the establishment of a Scottish Rural Medicine Collaborative in seven health boards, including NHS Grampian. This initiative will bring together recruitment strategies and support networks for GPs working in remote and rural areas.

We have established short-life working groups with partners, including both British Medical Association (BMA) and Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), to explore ways to improve sustainability of practices, and make recommendations on tackling workload pressures and addressing issues with GP premises.

Question reference: S5W-03247

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made with GP contract negotiations.

Question reference: S5F-00318

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 October 2016

To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government is taking to tackle the rise in the number of drug-related acute hospital stays.

Question reference: S5W-02932

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 30 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 19 June 2014, Helping junior doctors, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of junior doctors have rotas that compel them to work (i) seven night- and (ii) more than seven day-shifts in a row, and what action it takes to enforce this.

Question reference: S5W-02935

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 30 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the monitoring reports that it receives from NHS boards regarding junior doctor working hours.

Under the New Deal Contract, Junior Doctors are monitored on a bi-annual basis to ensure that their hours of work comply fully with the New Deal Contract limits. This monitoring shows that 99%+ rotas are compliant with the New Deal contract.

High level data from this monitoring is reported into a group consisting of the Scottish Government, the British Medical Association and NHS boards, and is made available to anyone who requests it.

Individual monitoring reports however contain information relating to individual doctors, and as such we would not wish to release these due to data protection issues as individuals can often be clearly identified.

Question reference: S5W-02931

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 30 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 19 June 2014, Helping junior doctors, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of junior doctors have rotas that compel them to work in line with the working time regulations, broken down by NHS board, and what action it takes to enforce this.

100% of Junior Doctor rotas in NHS Scotland are designed to comply fully with the limits of the Working Time Regulations, including the 48 hour average working week, as well as meet the Scottish Government requirements that no Junior Doctor will work for seven nights in a row, or will work for more than seven days/shifts in a row.

All Junior Doctor rotas in NHS Scotland are approved by the Scottish Government’s Medical Workforce Adviser before they can be implemented. Any rota which does not meet the legal, contractual or Scottish Government requirements will not be approved and will have to be amended to meet these requirements before it can be implemented.