- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13610 by Maree Todd on 17 January 2023, when its pilot for an online service is expected to begin, and how long it will run for.
Answer
The development of the pilot e-prep clinic is in the early stages and is likely to involve a staged approach.
As this is a complex project, involving significant IT and clinical expertise to deliver well, it is not yet possible to provide a definitive start date. The development work that’s currently underway will determine the scale, start date and duration of the initial pilot. While we expect significant progress to be made in the coming months, it is important that when we launch the pilot we ensure that it is fit for purpose and will meet the highest standards of patient safety.
As I committed to during the Parliamentary Debate on World Aids Day, the Scottish Parliament will be provided with an annual report regarding the progress made towards the goal of ending HIV transmission within Scotland by 2030.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what plans there are to evaluate the virtual health treatment tool, Near Me, and whether any such evaluation will involve service users.
Answer
Near me video consulting service has been evaluated from 2 separate occasions but the university of oxford. See links –
https://www.gov.scot/publications/evaluation-attend-anywhere-near-video-consulting-service-scotland-2019-20-main-report/
https://www.gov.scot/publications/evaluation-near-video-consulting-service-scotland-during-covid-19-2020-main-report/
In addition to this, a public consultation was undertaken that reached an excess of 5000 people and professionals. This resulted in this summary capturing views on the service –
https://www.gov.scot/publications/near-video-consulting-programme-national-equality-impact-assessment/
We have also developed an Equalities and Impact Assessment for the Near Me service which you can find here –
https://www.gov.scot/publications/public-clinician-views-video-consultation-executive-summary/documents/
There are currently no further plans for further evaluation at this point.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy to develop a fully interactive "Front Door", how many health and care services, both digital and physical services, across the statutory, third and independent sectors, are currently available on this system.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13979 on 30 January 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy, how it has increased the number of ways whereby people can access the care, support and information that they need.
Answer
The use of digital continues to be a key priority to support better choice and access to health and care services. The Near Me video consultation service has now supported in excess of 1.8m people through appointments since early 2020 across Scotland, avoiding over 60 million miles of unnecessary travel with important benefit for those on Island’s and rural areas. Remote monitoring of conditions is also being prioritised with over 40,000 people now having monitored their blood pressure from home through our Connect Me service with further developments for other conditions underway. Digital for Mental Health has seen significant growth with a range of self-help guides, self-referral therapy and self-management options now available to the public. In addition, NHS Inform continues to be the key place for validated information and support and we continue to encourage people to go to NHS Inform as a first step to help identify the best route of support for that person and their circumstances. Further access to services digitally will be made through the Digital Front Door.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy, how much it has spent on developing an online triage system.
Answer
As per answer to question S6W-13986 on 31 January 2023 there are a number of developments underway to support online triage. However, we do not hold information on the amount spent specifically on online triage.
All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government which areas do not currently provide 24-hour digital access to health and social care services through asynchronous communication, and what plans it has to introduce such access in these areas.
Answer
We are not currently aware of any Health Boards that are not using a form of asynchronous communication as part of their public service offering.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure that access to free Wi-Fi is available for any patients and residents currently being cared for by health and social care services who do not have such connectivity (a) at their bedside and (b) in public areas within their healthcare setting.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-13962 and S6W-13990 on 31 January 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
Scotland’s Digital Health and Care Strategy sets out a commitment to “work with partners to ensure patients and residents of health and care services have full access to free wi-fi, both bedside and in public areas within healthcare settings”.
For care homes specifically this means continuing work underway to fulfil the Digital Approaches in Care Homes Action Plan, including collaborating with Connecting Scotland and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations to support those 9% of care homes that still need to introduce Wi-Fi for their residents.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy, what it is doing to support people to embrace existing, new and emerging technologies in health and care.
Answer
The use of digital tools is a choice and the Scottish Government is very mindful that introducing more Digital into the Health & Care system will need to be proportionate to ensure that nobody is left behind. The Scottish Government’s Connecting Scotland Programme, which is looking to support households to get online, is a key part of supporting people to embrace technology, including to access health and care. In addition, individual programmes of work and individual services, such as those set out in the answer to question S6W-13989 on 31 January 2023, are responsible for ensuring patients and service users are sufficiently supported to meaningfully use technology.
All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answer
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy, what rights and responsibilities people have for using digital means to access information and services.
Answer
The “Health and Social Care Standards: my support, my life” set out a range of standards on what people should expect when using health, social care or social work services in Scotland. These include the use of technology to support independence and having more control over their own health and wellbeing, and for those in 24 hour care that they are connected to the internet. The Standards also set out an expectation that people can access the right information at the right time, and patients rights and responsibilities in relation to their information is further enhanced by the Charter of Patient Rights and Responsibilities which sets out expectations around confidentiality and handling of medical information.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13612 by Maree Todd on 17 January 2023, whether the targets for (a) 2021-22 were met and (b) 2022-23 will be met; whether, as part of that national target, local targets have been set for each NHS board, and how many treatment initiations have taken place in each NHS board since the targets were reinstated.
Answer
The Scottish Government remains committed to eliminating Hepatitis C as a major public health concern by 2024. We must nonetheless recognise the impact the pandemic has had across the whole health sector, including the detection and treatment of Hepatitis C. During the financial year 2021-22, 1,390 individuals across Scotland started direct-acting antiviral hepatitis C treatment. This is set out in a report on the PHS website: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/surveillance-of-hepatitis-c-in-scotland/surveillance-of-hepatitis-c-in-scotland-progress-on-elimination-of-hepatitis-c-as-a-major-public-health-concern-2022-update/
National target data for 2022-23 will be published as soon as the full data has been collected and subjected to the appropriate data quality checks.
Data on targets and treatment initiations at Health Board level cannot be provided centrally as it has not been subjected to the required data quality procedures. However, the Scottish Government can confirm national treatment targets are broken down to indicative levels by NHS Board area to assist with their planning.
Despite the challenges resulting from the pandemic, the PHS report linked above shows there is evidence to indicate that Scotland has already achieved the WHO target to treat 80% of those diagnosed with Hepatitis C.
