- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of all planned foreign ministerial visits for 2023.
Answer
All Ministerial engagements and travel information (including costs) are proactively released 3 months in arrears and available here Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Scottish Government officials make provisional overseas travel plans as part of official government business diary management and planning for Ministers. Until the date of the visit, these are provisional and contingent on Parliamentary Business and other commitments and issues arising.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how much funding it has provided to Zoho Corporation Private Limited to manage the GlobalScot network website for each year since it entered into partnership with the company.
Answer
This is an operational matter for the Scottish Enterprise, who administer the GlobalScot network. I have asked their Chief Executive to respond.
- 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 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 Maree Todd on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13529 by Maree Todd on 16 January 2023, how many shared posts have been established, and where they are based.
Answer
Public Health Scotland have appointed three consultants in Public Health Medicine jointly with local health boards - those shared national and local posts are in NHS Tayside, NHS Highland and NHS Fife. They are currently interviewing for a further two joint consultant roles with NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
- 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 Ivan McKee on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many individuals Connecting Scotland has assisted in accessing the devices, data and support that they need to be able to use digital technology, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The Connecting Scotland programme aims to ensure that people in Scotland have access to digital services by providing them with opportunities to access and utilise devices, connectivity, skills, and support effectively. To date, the programme has brought a total of 60,000 digitally excluded people online since programme launch.
A table containing the information specified in your question has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 63974 ).
- 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 its commitment to provide such access, whether all patients are now able to view and update information contained in their records, and access information such as test results, letters and treatment/care plans.
Answer
It is the intention of the Scottish Government to deliver this capability through the Digital Front Door, further details of which can be found in 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: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 31 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to open any new (a) static and (b) mobile breast cancer screening units in 2023, in light of the UK Government announcement that it will be providing funding for 13 and 16 such units, respectively.
Answer
The Scottish Breast Screening Programme (SBSP) currently operates six breast screening centres, complimented by twenty mobile breast screening units. These service each area of Scotland on a three yearly rotational basis and are intended to address the geographical challenges faced by the breast screening programme in Scotland.
The Scottish Government remains committed to improving the service and providing equality of access to breast screening. This commitment is laid out within the major review of the breast screening programme, which was published on 23 May 2022, and is being taken forward by a dedicated Modernisation Programme Board, which is working to ensure the programme is fit for the future. Further information on the review can be found here: Scottish Breast Screening Programme: major review - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
- Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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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 whether it will provide a breakdown of progress made regarding each of the commitments of the Respiratory Care Action Plan according to those (a) achieved, (b) in progress and (c) not yet started.
Answer
We are currently drafting a summary of progress on the implementation of the Respiratory Care Action Plan that will include proposals for next steps. The summary will then be taken to the Scottish Respiratory Advisory Committee (SRAC) in the Spring for consideration and sign off.