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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-40951

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 17 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is regarding whether all NHS workers working on night shift should be entitled to at least one hot meal per shift.

The Scottish Government recognises that access to a hot meal during shifts plays an important role in supporting the health and wellbeing of NHS staff.

The provision of healthy food or out-of-hours catering for NHS staff working night shifts is currently managed by individual Health Boards, who are best placed to determine local needs and allocate resources within their respective budgets.

NHS employers are encouraged to ensure, wherever possible, that staff have access to nutritious food, out-of-hours catering and appropriate rest spaces.

Scottish Government have undertaken scoping work to identify potential opportunities for collaboration with Health Boards to expand wellbeing initiatives for all staff working shifts. This will be looked at universally across NHSScotland.

Question reference: S6W-41037

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the announcement of the launch of MyCare.scot, Scotland’s new health and social care online app, when it anticipates that NHS patients will be able to re-order prescriptions via the app.

I can confirm that enabling people to re-order prescriptions are a core part of the plans for future functionality of MyCare.scot. Scotland’s Digital Prescribing and Dispensing Programme (DPDP) is a critical dependency for this functionality. The full business case for this programme is currently progressing through the appropriate national governance and will establish timescales that will allow for this functionality.

The member can find out more information on DPDP on NSS’ website; https://www.nss.nhs.scot/national-programmes/digital-prescribing-and-dispensing-pathways/about-the-digital-prescribing-and-dispensing-pathways-programme/.

Question reference: S6W-40982

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how the roll-out of the MyCare.scot app aligns with its ambition to establish a single shared electronic patent record, and when that technology will be available in Scotland.

The introduction of the MyCare.scotapp marks a significant milestone in the long-standing ambition of the Scottish Government to introduce a digital health and care record.

The initial launch of the app in December 2025 will enable individuals in Lanarkshire to access and manage aspects of their personal health and care data, prior to a national roll-out in April 2026. This makes use of the reusable digital components and data services offered by the National Digital Platform which will also mean staff have better access to health and care data to deliver better care. Both these elements should be considered essential in laying the foundations for wider development of the digital health and care record.

Question reference: S6W-40983

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how the roll-out of the MyCare.scot app aligns with its ambition to establish a single digital platform for the NHS, and when that technology will be available in Scotland.

Scotland’s National Digital Platform (NDP) brings together cloud-based digital components and services. The technology available on the platform will improve consistency of access to core digital tools in the health and care system. MyCare.scot will make extensive use of the reuseable digital components and data services offered by NDP. The NDP is currently operational, and the member can read more about it at: https://www.nationaldigitalplatform.scot/about/.

Question reference: S6W-40981

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its recent announcement regarding the MyCare.scot app, whether any interoperability barriers of the different IT systems have been overcome.

It has been a critical aim of the Scottish Government over a number of years to improve interoperability within health and social care. We recently passed the Care Reform (Scotland) Act 2025, which includes the introduction of mandatory information standards across systems to support this aim. Details of the legislation can be found here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2025/9/enacted.

I can confirm that we are currently looking at the proposed secondary legislation associated with the Act. This has included the process of setting up appropriate governance for this work.

The Scottish Government and partners actively seek to address interoperability challenges on an on-going basis. This includes work to ensure that key NHS systems will be interoperable with MyCare.scot.

Question reference: S6W-40978

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement and collaboration it has had with (a) COSLA and (b) individual local authorities in the development of the MyCare.scot app.

COSLA and Scottish Government, along with NES, are working together to develop and deliver MyCare.scot. COSLA are joint owners of our Digital Health and Care Strategy and previously committed to supporting delivery of the Digital Front Door Programme and by extension, MyCare.scot. COSLA also represents local authorities in that. The member can find more information about the strategy here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-digital-health-care-strategy/.

Question reference: S6W-40984

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of the document, Our Health and Social Care App: MyCare.scot: National Rollout High-Level Summary, on 26 September 2025, whether it will provide any possible alternative tracks that the public roll-out could take, as referenced under the “timeline at a glance” section.

Question reference: S6W-40980

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the functions that the MyCare.scot app will perform compared with a list of those of the NHS app used in England.

The initial launch of MyCare.scot in Lanarkshire will allow people to securely access and manage some hospital appointments online, receive communications, find local services and update personal information.

Information on which functionalities will be available can be found in our high-level Rollout Summary at: https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/strategy-plan/2025/09/health-social-care-app-mycare-scot-national-rollout-high-level-summary/documents/health-social-care-app-mycare-scot/health-social-care-app-mycare-scot/govscot%3Adocument/health-social-care-app-mycare-scot.pdf.

The member may also find it useful to refer to NHS England’s published information on the NHS App to understand its functionality. This can be found on their website at: https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-app/about-the-nhs-app/

Question reference: S6W-40976

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 14 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement and collaboration it has had with (a) integration joint boards and (b) health and social care partnerships in the development of the MyCare.scot app.

Scottish Government commissioned NHS Education Scotland (NES) as a lead partner for the delivery of the Digital Front Door (DFD) Programme, including MyCare.scot, and NES are engaging with a range of stakeholders in the development of MyCare.scot and DFD. That engagement includes working in partnership with COSLA to support national implementation. Ongoing and future work will include NES and Scottish Government engaging with integration joint boards, health and social care partnerships and Local Authorities.

A high-level Rollout Summary, published on 26 September, for MyCare.scot is available at:https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/strategy-plan/2025/09/health-social-care-app-mycare-scot-national-rollout-high-level-summary/documents/health-social-care-app-mycare-scot/health-social-care-app-mycare-scot/govscot%3Adocument/health-social-care-app-mycare-scot.pdf.

COSLA and the Scottish Government are working together to deliver MyCare.scot.

Question reference: S6W-40977

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 14 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement and collaboration it has had with the social work sector in the development of the MyCare.scot app.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40976 on 14 October 2025. NHS Education Scotland (NES) who have been commissioned by Scottish Government as a lead partner for MyCare.scot, are engaging with a range of stakeholders. I can confirm this also includes NES’ ongoing facilitation of collaborative workshops with key attendees including the social work sector.

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.