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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: S5W-24190

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many dedicated community nurses there have been in each NHS board in each year since 2007.

The number of dedicated community nurses by NHS Board from 2007 to the most recent published data as at 31 March 2019 is on the ISD website, available here:

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2019-06-04/Non-Medical_Trend_M2019.xls

The link above shows the number of nurses who have a location of service delivery recorded as (i) hospital, (ii) community, (iii) combined hospital / community, (iv) other or (v) prison. This information can be found by selecting the Nursing & Midwifery tab where the drop down can be used to select community.

Further notes:

Further information on the statistics, including information on how the data are collected and notes to aid interpretation, is given in the 'FAQs' section of the Workforce Statistics website at http://www.isdscotland.org/workforce/ .

Question reference: S5W-24192

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many school nurses there have been in each local authority area in each year since 2007.

The information requested on how many school nurses there have been in each local authority area since 2007 is not centrally held.

Information on school nurses by NHS Board has been published on the ISD website available here:

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2019-06-04/Non-Medical_Trend_M2019.xls

Note: Pre-2015 data is not comparable with recent ISD data therefore it has been omitted from the trend table.

Question reference: S5W-24191

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS staff residential properties each NHS board owns.

Question reference: S5W-24094

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many appointments to see a migraine specialist there have been in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S5W-24107

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many people with an eating disorder have been supported by the NHS in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Information is not held centrally on numbers supported by the NHS with an eating disorder. However, the numbers of patients admitted to hospital with an eating disorder, broken down by NHS Board since 1999 can be provided.

Number of patients admitted to hospital with eating disorder diagnoses1 by health board of treatment, 1999 - 2017

	19 99	20 00	20 01	20 02	20 03	20 04	20 05	20 06	20 07	20 08	20 09	20 10	20 11	20 12	20 13	20 14	20 15	20 16	20 17
Ayrshire & Arran	22	14	12	17	15	16	16	21	21	22	20	23	23	17	23	17	15	26	16
Borders	*	5	10	5	6	*	5	8	7	8	*	8	11	11	12	8	6	12	10
Dumfries & Galloway	15	16	10	13	10	9	6	*	9	9	9	13	13	7	12	22	17	19	19
Fife	14	19	14	14	11	9	12	10	21	15	23	10	13	10	18	16	16	18	26
Forth Valley	19	17	15	12	10	12	13	10	7	12	9	8	12	13	13	7	5	10	20
Grampian	30	25	22	26	32	44	39	37	44	35	55	40	51	59	54	80	60	48	64
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	71	56	65	64	64	51	56	78	79	71	69	66	61	90	94	108	103	112	115
Highland	14	18	14	17	16	22	20	18	20	20	25	18	36	33	29	39	40	27	39
Island Boards 2	5	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	6	6	*	5	9	*	*	7	5
Lanarkshire	16	20	18	15	21	16	33	22	21	13	15	16	24	35	28	23	24	41	31
Lothian	39	65	55	59	59	75	68	69	75	76	76	73	63	106	101	110	105	103	92
Other 3	-	-	-	-	*	-	8	16	11	7	*	13	16	*	9	32	50	54	44
Tayside	25	14	13	23	15	25	14	18	24	22	26	31	29	40	32	32	31	32	28

Source: SMR01, SMR04

Notes

* - Denotes values which have been suppressed to protect patient confidentiality.

1 - An eating disorder diagnosis is based on current classifications in Chapter V of the ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders.

The codes used to identify an eating disorder diagnosis are F50.0 through F50.9.

2 - Due to small numbers, the Orkney, Shetland, and Western Isles health boards have been grouped under Island Boards to protect patient confidentiality.

3 - Due to small numbers, the National Facility, Non-NHS Provider/Location, and State Hospital health boards have been grouped under Other to protect patient confidentiality.

Question reference: S5W-24182

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many pharmacists have been based in GP surgeries in each year since 2007, broken down by NHS board.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information in the manner requested. Prior to June 2015 arrangements for pharmacists in GP practices were local agreements put in place at Board level. However, from June 2015 the Primary Care Fund was allocated to Boards to recruit pharmacists with advanced clinical skills training, or those undertaking the training, to GP practices.

Therefore data for centrally funded posts exists from June 2015 onwards.

As at March 2019, Boards indicated they have recruited 320.2 wte pharmacists and 90.6 wte technicians to GP practices. The breakdown by Board is as follows :

Board	Pharmacists (wte)	Technicians (wte)
Ayrshire & Arran	31.1	11.4
Borders	6.3	3.4
Dumfries & Galloway	13.1	7
Fife	16.9	6.1
Forth Valley	29.1	2
Grampian	31.2	7.9
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	58.3	14.6
Highland	28.1	5.1
Lanarkshire	47.2	11
Lothian	38.5	5.1
Orkney	3.5	1.5
Shetland	3	0.5
Tayside	9.9	15
Western Isles	4	0
Total	320.2	90.6

Whilst this breakdown shows Primary Care Funded posts, Boards will also have pharmacists in GP practices who have been funded by other funding streams – this data would only be available directly from Boards.

Question reference: S5W-24172

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many GPs have been working in private GP services in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S5W-24164

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many NHS prescriptions have been issued in each year since 2007, and how many were not collected.

Information on the number of prescription issued and uncollected within the time periods requested is not readily available.

Each community pharmacy contractor will have a standard operating procedure for dispensing medicine which will include how to deal with uncollected items. However, it is common practice for any medicines not collected and which have not left the premises to be returned to stock for re-use if appropriate, and no reimbursement payment is made for the medicine in this case. Prescription forms for uncollected medicines are then passed by community pharmacies to NHS National Services Scotland Practitioner and Counter Fraud Services for processing, endorsed by the pharmacy as “item not collected”.

The reasons why a prescription item may be uncollected are multifaceted. However, a new medicine intervention support tool has been introduced allowing community pharmacists to provide structured and tailored support to patients. This should increase adherence to new medicines, in turn reducing the number of uncollected items due to poor adherence.

The Scottish Government has not issued any specific guidance on the reuse of uncollected prescriptions. Practitioner and Counter Fraud Services and Community Pharmacy Scotland publish Endorsing Guidance which provides guidance on how to endorse prescriptions for any items not collected.

Question reference: S5W-24184

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many referrals have been made using the ALISS (A Local Information System for Scotland) mental health service in each year since 2007, broken down by NHS board.

ALISS is an on-line directory service, openly accessible to all, which lists community assets and connects people with sources of support in their area to help them to manage their own health conditions effectively. The directory includes sources of support in the community across the full range of health and care services, not just mental health. It does not record information about referrals made by GPs. Information on the number of referrals broken down by NHS board is therefore not available.

Question reference: S5W-24169

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many NHS patients have sought advice on the use of medical cannabis since 2007.