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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-17150

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether an assessment has made been of the distance women have to travel to access obstetrics and gynaecology services in rural and remote areas in Scotland, and, if so, what the median travel distance is, and how many consultant obstetrician and gynaecologists have been recruited across all NHS boards in each of the past five years.

We recognise the challenges facing remote and rural NHS Boards in balancing paramount safety considerations with the delivery of care as close to home as practicable. Work is ongoing to ensure that services are developed in a flexible way, recognising local population needs and geographic challenges. We expect NHS Boards to engage constructively with local communities in this and understand that there is significant community engagement work already underway across remote and rural NHS Board areas.

Figures for median travel distance for obstetric and/ or gynaecology services are not collected centrally. The requested Information on how many obstetrics and gynaecology consultants have been recruited across all NHS Boards in each of the past 5 years can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence . NHS Boards are responsible for planning and delivering local services, including maternity services. This includes planning where those services should be located, based on local population need and any geographic challenges, and staff recruitment.

Question reference: S6W-17116

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its commitment in the Women's Health Plan 2021-24 to improve access to "speedy diagnosis" for endometriosis, in light of reports that the current average diagnosis time is eight and a half years from the onset of symptoms.

We are committed to delivering on the priority in the Women's Health Plan (WHP) to improve access for women to appropriate support, speedy diagnosis and best treatment for endometriosis.

There has been substantial progress since the publication of the Women’s Health Plan and our first report on progress, published on 26 January 2023, sets this out in more detail.

We will support the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme to raise awareness of the Endometriosis Pathway for Scotland. The pathway was approved in January 2023 and will be distributed to all NHS Boards for implementation. It provides a streamlined, integrated pathway across primary, secondary and tertiary care that aims to provide a holistic approach and timely care for those with endometriosis and endometriosis-like symptoms.

We will also continue to work with our Endometriosis Advisory Group and Lived Experience Forum to support and inform our policy actions to deliver on the priorities within the plan.

Question reference: S6W-17118

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its aim to eliminate hepatitis C in Scotland by 2024.

The Scottish Government remains fully committed to achieving the elimination of Hepatitis C in Scotland by the end of the 2024/25 financial year.

Scotland already has a renowned approach for tackling Hepatitis C, with NHS Tayside eliminating it within the health board area, 11 years ahead of the World Health Organisation (WHO) target.

The last Public Health Scotland report (2022) demonstrated the major progress that has been made so far; for example, the prevalence of a chronic Hepatitis C infection amongst people who inject drugs has almost halved between 2015 and 2020 and there has been as much as a 70% reduction in some parts of Scotland. In addition 80% of individuals with a chronic hepatitis C infection have also been initiated onto treatment, exceeding the World Health Organisations treatment target.

However, we know that to achieve elimination and meet our target will take a concerted effort on a national scale. We will continue to proactively collaborate with the Hepatitis C Elimination Implementation Strategy Group to ascertain where our support is most required as we work towards our goal of elimination.

Question reference: S6W-17117

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the report, Women’s Health Plan: A Report on Progress, whether it will provide an update on Action 32 of the Women's Health Plan, which is to commission research on the cause of endometriosis.

We are jointly funding a £250,000 endometriosis research project with the charity Wellbeing of Women. The research project, which will primarily be run by researchers at The University of Edinburgh, will look at the drug dichloroacetate in the management of endometriosis-associated pain.

Additionally, in January 2023 our Chief Scientist Office announced funding for the ENDOCAN project, led by researchers at The University of Edinburgh. Through a large scale UK-wide trial, the research will investigate whether a cannabinoid can reduce endometriosis-associated pain. Funding of £299,509 has been committed to this 30 month project.

The Chief Scientist Office is also currently inviting applications for Applied Health Research Programmes . An applied health research programme is envisaged to comprise a coherent group of inter-related projects that together can have a high level of direct impact to address an important Scottish population health or NHS challenge within the lifetime of the programme or soon thereafter.

Question reference: S6W-17186

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking alongside NHS Scotland to address the reported delay in issuing cervical screening results from both of the laboratories located in Scotland, and whether it will provide a breakdown of the current backlog of cervical cancer screenings in each NHS board.

The Scottish Government is aware of delays in issuing cervical screening results. Currently 75% of individuals are receiving their screening results within the recommended 14 days from the date that the sample was taken; however, we recognise that some individuals are experiencing delays of up to eight weeks as a result of ongoing staffing pressures faced by both cervical screening laboratories.

The Scottish cervical screening programme is working on a number of measures to address this. This includes a review of internal processes to ensure all staff who can report cervical cytology spend the maximum time possible at the microscope. In addition, digital technologies are being explored to increase overall reporting capacity.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on individual health board backlogs.

Question reference: S6W-17112

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 25 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress towards increasing the number of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests that have a defibrillator applied before the ambulance service arrive from 8% to 20%, as outlined in Scotland's Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Strategy 2021-2026.

The Scottish Government is a key partner in Save a Life for Scotland (SALFS), a partnership including the emergency services, third sector organisations and academic researchers. SALFS is responsible for the delivery of the Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest: Strategy 2021 to 2026 . Data on progress of the strategy is available at; Scotland’s Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest Report 2019 – 2022 .

SALFS approach to increasing the number of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests that have a defibrillator applied before the ambulance service arrive from 8% to 20%, is to ensure that defibrillators are publicly accessible, registered and there is a data driven approach to their placement.

Work underway includes the SCOT-PAD project, to develop a tool to support organisations and communities with more evidence on the optimal location to place their defibrillator. Progress is also being made in registration of defibrillators with the number of defibrillators in communities across Scotland that are registered with the Circuit doubling since 2019 to almost 5,000.

Question reference: S6O-02019

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support local authorities to ensure that the provision of local services, including swimming pools and leisure centres, meets the needs of local communities.

Question reference: S6F-01899

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 March 2023

To ask the First Minister whether she will provide an update on the Scottish Government's progress towards reducing the number of people on hospital waiting lists and ending long waits for NHS treatment.

Question reference: S6F-01828

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 February 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 February 2023

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to research by the Royal College of General Practitioners reportedly showing that a third of Scotland's GP staff who were surveyed said their practice was at risk of closing in the next few months.

Question reference: S6O-01917

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what discussions it has had with COSLA about the delivery of local services over the next financial year.