- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 25 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to improve patient access to dental services.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 25 May 2023
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 16 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-04293 by Graeme Dey on 25 November 2021, whether it will provide an update on these plans, and whether all planned secondary legislation is now in place.
Answer
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-04293 by Graeme Dey on 25 November 2021, whether it will provide an update on these plans, and whether all planned secondary legislation is now in place.The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 prohibits pavement parking, double parking and parking at dropped kerbs, and gives local authorities the relevant powers to enforce these new provisions. To support these provisions, a suite of regulations is required to bring the new legislation into force. These give local authorities the tools they need to be able to tackle the issues of inconsiderate and obstructive parking.
The first of these regulations regarding the Exemption Order Procedures that local authorities must follow, was laid in Parliament in December 2022. A copy of the legislation can be found here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2022/360/contents/made.
We have had a long-standing commitment to allow local authorities 12 months from when these regulations come into force to assess their streets and put in place any exemption orders and physical signs and lines before enforcement can go live in late 2023.
In addition we will shortly be launching a public consultation on the Enforcement Procedure Regulations which will define how a local authority can issue a Penalty Charge Notice to someone found to be in contravention of the new national prohibitions for Pavement, Dropped Kerb & Double Parking. The secondary regulations required to ensure local authorities have the powers they need to enforce this will be laid in Parliament later this year.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 16 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many people under 22 in South Ayrshire have registered for a free bus pass through the Young Persons' (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme, and what this is as a percentage of eligible under-22s in that area.
Answer
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many people under 22 in South Ayrshire have registered for a free bus pass through the Young Persons' (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme, and what this is as a percentage of eligible under-22s in that area.As at the end of the day 30 April 2023, there were 10,069 cardholders under the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme in South Ayrshire. This represents 56.4% of the estimated eligible population in the local authority area.
Cardholder data is supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). NECPO supports the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card (NEC) and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data. The figure includes travel products collected from the Transport Scot Pass Collect mobile app.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what plans are in place to help increase the number of people attending their breast screening in Ayrshire and Arran.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17625 on 15 May 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: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what plans are in place to increase the number of people from the most deprived areas in Ayrshire and Arran to attend their breast screening, in light of recent evidence suggesting that they are less likely than those in the least deprived areas to attend a screening.
Answer
The Scottish Government welcomes the increase in uptake of breast screening, set out in the latest available data published by Public Health Scotland. However, we recognise that work is required to address the inequalities arising those from more deprived areas being less likely to attend for screening.
NHS Ayrshire and Arran’s Public Health Team are currently examining the available data to establish areas where there are potential inequalities present that could reduce access to the Breast Screening Programme. This is likely to highlight areas of social and financial deprivation, and geographical isolation, which will allow for more targeted approaches to increasing uptake to take place.
The South West breast screening programme has an active social media campaign to raise awareness of the breast screening programme. In addition, appointments are available in the morning and evenings during the week to help accommodate access to screening. Alongside this, the Breast Screening Modernisation Programme and Equity in Screening strategy will consider inequality in uptake in the programme more generally.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what the Scottish Patient Safety Programme Medicines Collaborative is currently working on, and whether any areas of its work have ceased to be active.
Answer
The Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) Medicines Collaborative was hibernated in 2020. Since then, the following elements have restarted:
- Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAID) Safer Care Bundle
- NSAID Communication Care Bundle
- Medicines Sick Day Rule Cards
- High Risk Medicines Framework
- High Risk Medicines Discussion Framework
Two elements which have ceased are:
- Omitted medicines, which has moved to the Excellence in Care team
- Reducing Medicines Harm Across Transitions
Medicines safety continues to be a priority across Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) and their current focus is on supporting the implementation of primary care pharmacotherapy services. This includes quality improvement work to ensure safe and timely access to medicines using resources from the acute prescribing and serial prescriptions toolkits. These toolkits have been developed in collaboration with primary care teams to ensure people have safe and timely access to medicines including regular, person-centred medication reviews. HIS also provides hands on implementation support to teams who can apply to join a seven week sprint programme. During this programme teams are supported to understand their local system and implement the tools and resources within the pharmacotherapy toolkits.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether any evaluation of the use of the High Risk Medicines Framework in NHS Scotland has been conducted, and, if so, what the result of any such evaluation was.
Answer
The Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) has developed a number of tools and resources to improve medicines safety. One area of focus has been on developing resources around the use of high risk medicines, and within high risk situations. The high risk medicines framework and discussion tool has been reviewed by the clinical team supporting Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to ensure they remain up to date and beneficial. There are also some more in-depth evaluations and updates of specific resources. The sick day rule cards are being updated in collaboration with the Quality Prescribing and Therapeutics Division of the Scottish Government and will be included in polypharmacy guidance, and HIS has commissioned the University of Strathclyde to complete a national evaluation of the Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAID) safety bundles. This evaluation will be completed in the coming months and a report will be issued outlining the findings.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, following the completion of the National Cancer
Plan in March 2023, whether it will provide an update on the forthcoming
publication of its new cancer strategy.
Answer
We plan to publish the proposed new cancer strategy in early Summer 2023. We do not have a specific date.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is planning to add Parkinson’s medication to the High Risk Medicines Framework.
Answer
The High Risk Medicines Framework specifies some medicines and medicines groups and at the current time this does not include Parkinson’s medication. There is also a High Risk Medicines Discussion template that is not medicine specific and can be adapted and used by local teams to meet their needs. Parkinson’s medication can be reviewed and discussed within this framework to support local teams to discuss and prioritise improvement activities. All resources are reviewed regularly and the Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) welcomes further suggestions to add to or develop resources.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of the roll-out of Hospital Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (HEPMA) in each NHS board, and when it expects that each NHS board will have HEPMA capability.
Answer
Hospital Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (HEPMA) has been rolled out in in seven Health boards including NHS Ayrshire & Arran, NHS Dumfries & Galloway, NHS Forth Valley, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Lothian and The State Hospital.
The six North of Scotland Boards have worked collaboratively together to develop a regional HEPMA and have implemented capability for the region. NHS Grampian, NHS Highland, NHS Tayside and NHS Orkney have gone live and are now planning for a wider roll out across each of their estate. Both NHS Shetland and NHS Western Isles are finalising preparations for go live in the coming weeks.
Work is underway to rollout HEPMA systems in the remaining Health Boards of NHS Borders, NHS Fife and the Golden Jubilee National Hospital. We expect these implementations to begin in 2024.
