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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-17534

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 April 2023
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.

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.

Question reference: S6W-17535

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2023
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.

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.

Question reference: S6W-17625

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2023
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.

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.

Question reference: S6W-17626

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2023
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.

Question reference: S6W-17633

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
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.

Question reference: S6W-17539

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 11 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what policies and protocols are currently in place in NHS Scotland to ensure that people whose medicine is time-critical, such as those with Parkinson’s disease, receive their medication on time, every time, including when they are in hospital.

People living with Parkinson’s should be responsible for the administration of all their medicines, including during a stay in any health or care setting, unless a risk assessment indicates otherwise. There are several tools to help people to remember to take their medication, including using alarms on a digital watch, or setting a reminder on a smartphone, using medication reminder charts, using pill timer boxes and multi-compartment compliance aids. In health and care settings, including hospitals, organisational policies will define who can administer medicines, or the appropriate delegation of the administration of medicines, within that setting. This should include a policy for self-administration of medicines.

All registered healthcare professionals who administer medicines, or - when appropriate - delegate the administration of medicines, are accountable for their actions, and this includes recording when a dose of medication may have been missed. This is in line with professional and regulatory standards and guidance. Non-registered healthcare professionals are appropriately trained, assessed as competent and meet relevant organisational guidance on medicines administration.

The administration of Parkinson’s medications vary from person to person and does not always correspond with hospital ward medicine administration rounds for people who are not able to self-administer, and so the roll-out of a Hospital Electronic Prescribing and Medicine Administration (HEPMA) system across Scottish hospitals will help to reduce any missed doses, as well as providing a record of any omissions which provides data to support improvement in the administration of medicines. In addition, there are additional tools in use in some hospitals which can provide alerts as reminders to administer Parkinson’s medicines.

Question reference: S6W-17540

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 11 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what policies and procedures are in place to support medicines reconciliation for all hospital inpatients upon (a) admission to, (b) transfer within and (c) discharge from hospital.

The medicines reconciliation process is set out at a national level, and the responsibility lies within each Health Board to enact and monitor adherence.

Board specific policies detail the roles and responsibilities of healthcare professionals when completing and updating medicines reconciliation forms during admission, transfer, and discharge.

Arrangements may vary, therefore specific details could be obtained directly from the Health Boards.

Question reference: S6W-17532

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 11 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how the medicines reconciliation process for all inpatients is monitored within each NHS hospital.

Question reference: S6O-02233

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is supporting the arts sector.

Question reference: S6W-17360

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to increase recruitment for staff in older people's medicine (a) across Scotland and (b) in NHS Ayrshire and Arran.

NHS Boards are responsible for ensuring they have local policies in place to recruit effectively and retain their staff. They are supported in this through the Scottish Government’s National Workforce Strategy, which sets out the actions it will take in partnership with Boards to plan, attract, train, employ and nurture the health and social care workforce. At national level these actions include increasing workforce supply through international recruitment and providing additional medical and nursing student places.

Since 2014, Scottish Ministers have created 725 expansion posts across a wide range of medical specialties including 20 posts in geriatric medicine. This 32% increase in geriatric medicine training brings the total number of established places to 82 across all years of the Geriatric Medicine training programme.